Henry McDonald on Northern Ireland taking back control of the policeHenry McDonald

Steve Bell's If ...Steve Bell

Adam Bienkov:The Conservative's parliamentary candidate for Greenwich and Woolwich has spoken of his "huge disappointment" after the Mayor broke his promise to reinstate tidal flow in the Blackwall Tunnel. Speaking during a wide-ranging interview with Greenwich.co.uk, the current leader of the Conservatives on the council Spencer Drury said, "I

Secret back-channel chats with Taliban leaders point to a willingness to end conflict, says UKDavid Miliband's call for a major political push towards a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan follows a series of back-channel contacts between a string of international intermediaries and the Taliban, the Guardian can reveal.Those contacts – involving

A Downing Street request was denied after the BBC decided it would be inappropriate this close to a general electionGordon Brown is a sports fanatic whose passion for Raith Rovers, the football team he has supported since childhood, is a matter of public record. But the BBC has barred the prime minister from appearing on its Sunday night Premier Le

Nicholas Watt on how David Cameron failed to persuade his Ulster Unionist allies to vote for devolving police powersNicholas Watt

National Audit Office says so little is done to tackle reoffending rates of p[risoners serving less than 12 months that most have no work or education coursesA failure to tackle the criminality of 60,000 prisoners who serve sentences shorter than 12 months is costing the country between £7bn and £10bn annually in reoffending, according to a repor

The postal industry's greatest problem is not modernisation, but unfair agreements with private mail companiesI've just received the "official" CWU version of the agreement it has just negotiated with Royal Mail. It seems to be substantially the same as the leaked version I read over the weekend.It came with a long overview justifying the union

Number of 'phishing' attacks have risen to 51,000 from just 1,700 five years ago, according to the UK Cards AssociationThe amount of money lost to online banking fraud last year rose by 14%, according to figures released today, despite an overall drop in card fraud losses.Criminals have switched their attentions from internal bank systems, which

The spiritual home of the Taliban will be the scene of intense US efforts to crush the rebels this summer, the most significant struggle of the yearAfter three hours of lugging heavy gear around Arghandab, a lush valley flanking Afghanistan's second city of Kandahar, and with the sun about to set, the men of Bravo company were hungry: they were be

Lord Laming's costly recommendations are overloading social workers, council leaders warnThe cost of implementing child protection reforms recommended in the wake of the Baby Peter case will run into tens of millions of pounds and new rules and targets have left social workers so overloaded that vulnerable children's safety could be put at greate

French president may offer concessions on EDA but urges Conservatives to engage over EU futureNicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is to deliver a firm warning to David Cameron that the Conservatives risk forfeiting vital French co-operation on energy, defence and the economy if they refuse to engage over the future of Europe.In an attempt to lur

The Northern Ireland assembly has voted to devolve policing and criminal justice powers to Belfast. But despite the intervention of George Bush, Hillary Clinton and David Cameron, the Ulster Unionist party refused to back the deal. Henry McDonald, our Ireland correspondent, assesses the implications of the vote, while in Westminster, chief politica

National Audit Office says so little is done to tackle reoffending rates of p[risoners serving less than 12 months that most have no work or education coursesA failure to tackle the criminality of 60,000 prisoners who serve sentences shorter than 12 months is costing the country between £7bn and £10bn annually in reoffending, according to a repor

On a set disconcertingly reminiscent of that for The Weakest Link, culture secretary Ben Bradshaw and his opposite numbers – Jeremy Hunt for the Tories, and Don Foster for the Lib Dems – last week began courting the artistic great-and-good at a debate in London organised by the Cultural Leadership Programme. Hunt left before the end ("You are

My friend John Kampfner (I want to vote for a progressive Labour platform. So I'm backing the Lib Dems, 9 March) is amnesic and myopic. His memory of Labour "changes for the better" omits the highest level of employment in UK history, the massive increases in NHS, education, science and overseas development investment, child and pension tax cred

Foreign Office officials believe elements of Taliban ready to talk but fears grow of long Afghan conflict, and growing casualtiesBritain will today urge the Afghan government to put more effort into the pursuit of peace talks amid fears that the war could be prolonged – and more British lives lost – as a result of incompetence and lack of polit

Finborough, LondonThere's a lively online debate about whether theatre can "beat" the BNP. Obviously, it can't single-handed. But what it can do, as this vigorous if unsubtle play by Anders Lustgarten proves, is expose the gulf between the party's emollient tactics and its extremist views.Lustgarten's play depends upon two rather shaky propos

• Waterboarding of 9/11 suspect was 'concealed'• Manningham-Buller criticises Bush staffThe government protested to the US over the torture of terror suspects, the former head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller revealed last night.She also said the Americans concealed from Britain the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mas

The fact that less than 11% of board members in major British companies are female is a damning indictment of this government's failure to offer a coherent strategy for fighting inequality and championing women's rights (Absence of women on top boards 'unacceptable', 8 March). What's more, given that fewer than 20% of MPs are female, Brown and

Intervention by the former US president in the Northern Ireland peace process receives a mixed receptionSteve Bell

A selection of the best images from around the world

Korean company Samsung kicks off the industry-wide push by launching a 3D range that will be in British shops by the end of the monthThe friendly green monster Shrek, the blue-skinned Na'vi of the planet Pandora and Wayne Rooney's shots on goal will shortly take on a new, three-dimensional glory.Spurred on by the success of the Hollywood fantasy

The troubled Massachusetts governor has been portrayed as Obama's political doppelgänger. But their fates aren't intertwinedThink Scott Brown's victory in liberal Massachusetts – for Ted Kennedy's seat, no less – has become an overworked metaphor to describe Barack Obama's political plight? You haven't seen anything yet.This November, M

Breast really is best, according to New York chef Daniel Angerer, who has turned his wife's 'liquid gold' into cheeseTake four cups of breast milk, add rennet, salt and yoghurt – yes, four cups of breast milk, according to a recipe created by New York chef and restaurateur Daniel Angerer, who posted his formula for maple caramelized pumpkin en

Ancient DNA has been extracted from the fossilised eggshells of birds for the first time, and will eventually yield clues about their physiology, diet and how they went extinctScientists have collected DNA from the fossilised eggshells of birds that died hundreds and in some cases thousands of years ago.The oldest eggshell to yield DNA came from an

Adelphi, LondonThere is much to enjoy in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical. The score is one of the composer's most seductive. Bob Crowley's design and Jack O'Brien's direction have a beautiful kaleidoscopic fluidity. And the performances are good. The problems lie within the book, chiefly credited to Lloyd Webber himself and Ben Elton, which

• Despite weak pound hopes of export-led recovery doubtful• Small firms seek more help over funding exports drive Hopes that the cheaper pound will power the UK to an export-led economic renaissance suffered a blow with news that the trade gap widened sharply in January.With sterling around 25% weaker than before the credit crunch, economists h

The usual rules of sexual attraction go out of the window when men are stressed, say psychologistsMen are drawn to a wider range women when they are feeling stressed out, according to research into the psychology of sexual attraction.People are usually attracted to partners with similar facial features to their own, but after a brief but stressful

• 1,600 homes to be built in East Jerusalem settlement• Vice-president says the deal undermines trustJoe Biden, the US vice-president, condemned a plan by Israel to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land in an East Jerusalem settlement.The Israeli interior ministry's approval of the plan cast a cloud over a visit to the country by Bid

Four men and three women suspected of planning to kill Lars Vilks, who has had al-Qaida bounty on his head since 2007Irish police today arrested seven suspects over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish artist who drew the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.The target of the alleged assassination was Lars Vilks, who had a $100,000 (£67,000) bount

The green, matey, ethical stuff went down well for a while. But the new Tory brand can't survive many more ugly revelationsDuring a recent half-term break, my family and I were trudging around Dorset. Great fun it was too, though we did run into a series of barriers. Every now and again we would come up against a gate or fence, informing us that t

Foreign Office officials believe elements of Taliban ready to talk but fears grow of long Afghan conflict, and growing casualtiesBritain will today urge the Afghan government to put more effort into the pursuit of peace talks amid fears that the war could be prolonged – and more British lives lost – as a result of incompetence and lack of polit

Party's revised constitution would require all applicants to submit to a two-hour home visit, court is toldThe British National party plans to send officials to vet all would-be members in their homes, a court heard today.A clause in the far right group's revised constitution would require all applicants to submit to a two-hour home visit by two

• Former choirmaster did not know of sexual abuse• Pupils claim headteacher was sexual 'sadist'The elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI admitted today that he slapped pupils at a Catholic boarding school where he was choirmaster and was aware of violent incidents that took place at the school, but not the extent of the abuse. He asked victims f

Rageh Omaar's defence of the discredited BBC report on Band Aid beggars belief. He ignores the total collapse of standards at the World ServiceRageh Omaar's piece "Even Band Aid is not above criticism" is ridiculous. It is of course not about me, or Band Aid, but rather a defence of journalistic exceptionalism, and the now thoroughly discredite

Prenuptial training for young people aims to tackle country's rising divorce ratesThere was a time when Iranian women seeking husbands prioritised job status and financial security – not to mention love – at the top of their list of needs.Now potential suitors face the prospect of having to fulfil a daunting new requirement before asking for a

José Manuel Barroso says European commission considering ban on credit default swaps to ease market pressure on GreeceThe European commission announced moves today to shore up the euro and ward off market pressure on Greece by considering a ban on complex derivatives allegedly being used to undermine the single currency.The draconian move suggeste

Plus: Team-mates and sworn enemies (2); who's going to fill Rochdale's boots?; and England's Toulon team of 1990. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk"Have any football matches been captured on Google Earth?" wondered Roderick Stewart last week. "Who won?"Google's roving helicopter/spy satellite/gigantic flaming all-s

• Arsenal manager would welcome all-Premier League semi-final• 'It would be a good chance to show we can do it against them'Arsène Wenger said he would welcome the chance to face Manchester United or Chelsea in the Champions League quarter‑finals, after he watched his Arsenal team book their place in the last eight with a dismantling of Po