Pressure mounts on Andy Coulson, as MPs call on the powerful standards and privileges committee to summon witnesses such as Rupert Murdoch to give evidenceMedia tycoon Rupert Murdoch should be called to give evidence to a new inquiry into the News of the World phone-hacking row, MPs were told today as they agreed to refer the issue to the Commons'

The parliamentary row over phone hacking grows in importance hour by hour. Rafael Behr, leader writer for the Observer, believes that as yet the coalition government has withstood the pressure. Julian Glover, chief leader writer for the Guardian, says that David Cameron is stubborn enough to hang on to his head of communications, Andy Coulson, the

List of people who MPs want to appear before standards and privileges committee over phone-hacking allegationsDuring today's Commons debate on phone hacking, MPs named a number of people they wanted to appear before a new inquiry by the standards and privileges committee. Here is their full list of key witnesses:Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief

Standard & Poor's ratings agency says planned spending cuts and tax rises may lead to many more house repossessionsThe government's planned spending cuts and tax rises could trigger a fresh wave of house repossessions as hard-pressed borrowers find it impossible to meet their mortgage payments, the ratings agency Standard & Poor's said today.In

With 13 seats up for grabs in the Norwich byelection today, the Greens have a good chance of becoming the largest partyThe Green party is hoping to become the largest party in a town hall for the first time as voters go to the polls today in a council byelection with 13 seats up for grabs.Today's poll of a third of seats at Norwich city council co

Deputy PM is worried that public sector managers might take the easy option and slash jobs to meet cuts rather than reconfiguring servicesThe biggest risk facing the government in next month's spending review is panic, with civil servants slashing budgets across the board, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said today.Six weeks before 25% cuts

Pinpointing the end of Ramadan and start of Eid al-Fitr isn't a prescise art, which only makes those final hours of fasting worseThe wait for Eid al-Fitr to be announced at the end of Ramadan never gets less agonising. As Usama Hasan explained on this site back in 2008, because Ramadan and the month that follows are lunar months, their arrival can

A government consultation on how to evaluate the extent of rough sleeping has drawn a telling response from Islington Council, which has been back in Labour hands since May's elections. The Communities and Local Government department proposes changes to its guidance to local authorities on how to quantify the problem on their patch. It's looks ve

Former minister tables motion calling for standards and privileges committee to investigate phone-hacking allegations

Labour MP suggests ministers are scared of powerful newspapers

Robin Imray wants to reduce his spending on line rental, phone calls and broadbandIs it possible to get a line-only broadband deal with no bundled phone calls? I have a mobile (which I use), a BT phone line (which I rarely touch), a broadband connection (which I use constantly), and home-phone bundled calls (which I pay a fair amount for but don't

I need to upgrade my camera in order to increase my earnings to pay off my debt, but it will use up the remainder of my credit limit. What is a debtor to do?Work investment. Work investment. Work investment. I can say it a hundred times and my wife will have a go at me for giving in to gadget lust.Fact is, I need to upgrade the old kit because that

Ailey's American Dance Theater gave black choreography identity and emotional presence – and became an African-American institutionIn shortBorn in poverty in rural Texas, Alvin Ailey grew into a gifted choreographer who drew inspiration from African American culture. He went on to become both an American institution and a broken man.BackstoryAlv

• Post your comments below or send me an email• Read our fashion pages for the latest style news• Sign up for our free Fashion Statement email• Follow guardian.co.uk Life & Style on Twitter9.45am: Well, I can only assume that Nicholas K knows something we don't, and it involves war. If you don't like your fashion to blend into the desert,

US president joins worldwide condemnation of plan by US preacher to burn copies of Qur'an to mark 9/11 anniversaryBarack Obama today joined mounting worldwide condemnation of the plan by an extremist US preacher to burn copies of the Qur'an, saying the event would be a "recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida".The Rev Terry Jones has vowed to go ahead

Artist satirises roadside adverts by nailing his poetry to traffic lights and streetlamps across the cityArtist John Morse has been peppering Atlanta's road intersections with haikus, nailing his poetry to traffic lights and streetlamps in an attempt to provide commuters with "poetic snapshots of the urban condition".Mimicking the usual advertis

One dead, the other seriously injured in crash one month after moment of passion was controversially published in newspaperTheirs was a kiss that stunned a conservative town. When a moment of passion between two men was published on a newspaper front page, it provoked fierce debate in one of South Africa's oldest communities.In a single photograph

A new study suggests that planes cause more warming than cars, while ships are cooling enough to counteract them bothWe hear much about the environmental costs of air travel. As our recent Q&A explained, the problem is not just that planes burn a lot of fuel and therefore kick out plenty of CO2 per passenger. Just as important are a host of other h

Clegg says police are entitled to 'ask questions' about whether Andy Coulson, No 10's director of communications, knew of phone-hacking when he was News of the World editorThe deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, today urged the police to probe new phone-hacking allegations surrounding No 10 communications chief, Andy Coulson, as another News of t

A remark by Nick Clegg makes me worry that the coalition has not grasped the role that public spending plays in promoting the health of the private sectorNick Clegg made an interesting slip on air this morning, one which has a direct bearing on the wisdom of the coalition's cuts strategy. Reminding Radio 4 listeners that Britain's economy grew by

The OECD's volte-face over the dangers of spending cuts gives the chancellor plenty of cover to rethink his approach. If he doesn't, he will be making a catastrophic blunderIt was like manna from heaven for George Osborne when the west's leading economic think tank instructed its rich members back in May to tackle budget deficits without delay.H

• Manager admits he should go now after talks with FAW• Montenegro defeat appears to have sealed his fateJohn Toshack has resigned as the Wales manager with immediate effect after six years in the job.The former Real Madrid manager, who has been in charge of the national team since 2004, revealed he would be stepping down at the start of the we

While England promote their 'safe' option, Russia's bid team for the 2018 World Cup want the tournament to be a historic momentVitaly Mutko is in a confident mood. Surveying Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, with its luridly green artificial pitch, Mutko recalls watching Russia beat England 2-1 here during their 2007 European qualifier. It had seemed

• Striker set to miss England's qualifier against Montenegro• Tottenham also likely to lose forward for Champions LeagueJermain Defoe fears he may be out for eight weeks after suffering ankle ligament damage during England's 3-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday.The injury means the striker will miss the majority of Tottenham Hotspur's Cha

• England manager impressed by Gerrard's leadership• Italian says he will 'absolutely' step down in 2012Fabio Capello is considering appointing Steven Gerrard as the England captain on a full-time basis following the Liverpool midfielder's impressive displays this season as a stand-in for the injured Rio Ferdinand.The Italian, who has confi

The former chairman of Southend United says for too long football clubs have not stuck to workable and dependable business strategiesA football club is different from any other business entity. The stakeholders, in this case are the fans. The fans' investment is their support, while their return comes in the form of the emotional gratification all

Crime writer and Society of Authors president urges Jeremy Hunt to maintain funding writers receive when libraries loan out their booksCrime novelist PD James has written to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, calling his attention to the thousands of authors who are fighting for the money they receive from library loans of their work to be spared

David Willetts warns that young people face missing out on higher education if they don't contribute more to the costGraduates should pay a higher contribution in return for their university education, a government minister said today.The universities minister, David Willetts, said this would be better than cutting student numbers or reducing the

A grassroots movement, where audiences get to participate and experience films communally in unique locations, is the perfect antidote to the passivity of the modern multiplexOn the floor of the cavernous main hall inside Alexandra Palace – a glass-roofed exhibition centre in north London – three and a half thousand people dressed as Bedouins a

BBC London will tonight broadcast a London Debate (BBC One, 22:35) about the effect of government cuts on the capital. Recorded on Tuesday, participants will include the influential Stephen Greenhalgh, leader of Tory flagship borough Hammersmith and Fulham, Labour Mayor of Hackney and chair of London Councils Jules Pipe, TfL commissioner Peter Hend

Chancellor George Osborne names Institute for Fiscal Studies director to take helm at independent budgetary watchdogRobert Chote, the head of Britain's leading thinktank on tax and spending, was today named by George Osborne to head his independent budgetary watchdog.The influential director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies will be the first pe

Cutbacks focus on military aircraft division, which make parts for Tornado, Harrier jump jet and Hawk trainerBAE Systems has sparked fears of heavy job losses across the UK defence industry after announcing that it will cut up to 946 positions across its UK workforce.The cutbacks will mostly hit its military aircraft division, which makes parts for

Bank of England votes to keep interest rate at record low of 0.5% – where it has been fixed since March 2009The Bank of England has left interest rates unchanged at 0.5% for the 18th month in a row, as concern over the state of the UK economy continued to override inflation fears.The Bank's monetary policy committee also voted to leave its £200

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 9 September 1950Glasgow, Friday night.The first sign that the rescue was imminent came shortly before eleven o'clock to-night, when a siren was sounded, and Mr. William Pearson, secretary of the Scottish area of the miners' union, accompanied by Lord Balfour, chairman of the N.C.B. (Scottish Divi

British resident cannot sue firm for allegedly flying terror suspects abroad for CIA because of 'national security concerns'A US court has narrowly ruled that Binyam Mohamed, the British resident secretly rendered to Morocco by the CIA before being held in the Guantánamo Bay prison camp for four years, cannot sue over his alleged torture in over

Major world economies may be slowing faster than thought – although OECD says another downturn 'unlikely'The global recovery may be slowing faster than previously thought, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned today as it cut its growth forecasts for the second half of the year. The Paris-based organisation also call

Bullet trajectories suggest some victims were hit by friendly fire during botched assault on hijacked busSome victims of a botched rescue of hostages on a tourist bus in the Philippines may have been hit by police fire, the country's top law enforcement official said today .Eight tourists from Hong Kong were killed and three seriously wounded afte

At least 12 killed and 80 injured by Vladikavkaz blast in what appears to be latest strike by Islamist militantsAt least 15 people have been killed and 80 injured after a powerful car bomb ripped through a market in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz today.Witnesses reported major devastation in what appears to be the latest strike by Islamist militan

Radical evangelist set up Christian Community of Cologne, which says it wants nothing to do with his plansThe US pentacostal preacher who ignited an international row with plans to burn copies of the Qur'an was dismissed from the board of a church he founded in Germany after allegations he mistreated his followers, according to German newspapers.T

As Ben Affleck and bro vie for attention in Venice, the older one's brawny cops-and-robbers thriller leaves no cliche untrampledThe Affleck brothers – Casey and Ben – are vying for glory at this year's Venice film festival. In the past three days both siblings have boated on to the Lido, brandishing films that could hardly be more different i