US economic growth slowed between April and June, with GDP growing by an annualised rate of 2.4%, the US Commerce Department says.

A points failure caused the Potters Bar train crash which killed seven people, an inquest jury decides.

Two employees at the US embassy in France are taken for medical check-ups after a suspect package is identified at the building's post room.

The MoD is facing further pressure on its budget after the chancellor says it will have to pay for new nuclear submarines, and not the Treasury as before.

Fugitive Polly Peck tycoon Asil Nadir, who fled to northern Cyprus in 1993, is granted bail.

The widow of a man believed to have been killed by the IRA in 1981 said she felt sad but relieved that her husband's remains appeared to have been found.

Hundreds of UK soldiers launch an operation to clear Taliban insurgents from a key stronghold in southern Afghanistan.

Pictures of 14 suspected rioters are released by police investigating trouble in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast.

Britain's Jessica Ennis gets her bid for European heptathlon gold off to a strong start by winning the 100m hurdles and the high jump events in Barcelona.

The family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan pay tribute ahead of his funeral, calling him "brave, courageous and loyal".

China is struggling with an arduous clean up after the country's worst oil spill, with grim conditions for those involved.

US forces suffered the deadliest month of their nine-year Afghan campaign, with 63 service members killed in July.

Lazio complete the signing of left-back Javier Garrido from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee.

Syria's president is in Lebanon after years of tension between the two countries, on a visit with the Saudi king to try to avert a looming political crisis.

Four white South Africans are fined $2,700 (£1,700) each after making a video humiliating black university workers.

The intelligence on Iraq's weapons threat was "not very substantial", former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott says.

The tug of war, croquet and cricket have all featured as Olympic sports in Games gone by, with two years to go until the London Olympics we chart all those sports that have come and gone in over a century of competition.

Merging all tax credits and benefits into a single payment is one option being considered by Iain Duncan Smith in a "radical" welfare shake-up.

Over 300 people are killed and nearly 400,000 displaced by floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in northern Pakistan.

BA reveals a steep quarterly loss of £164m after being hit by cabin crew strikes and disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud.