National / International News

Campaigners say that internet giant Google needs to stop running adverts for ivory products in Japan.

The jury in the retrial of Vicky Pryce, the ex-wife of former Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne, retires to consider its verdict.

After a Monday concert at O2 Arena that reportedly started two hours late, the 19-year-old pop star apologized for upsetting disappointed young concertgoers and their angry parents.

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After another sex scandal involving a senior Catholic, the celibacy debate has reopened. Is it a realistic commitment?

Controversial regulations governing the contracting out of services in the NHS will be re-written amid growing concerns about increasing competition, the government says.

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal accuses Forbes magazine of understating his wealth as he severs ties with the magazine.

Researchers report that the U.S. ranks among the top countries at treating cancers of the brain, colon and breast. But it still lags behind most of Western Europe when it comes to drug abuse, heart disease and kidney problems.

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The BBC is to bring a web-based version of its iPlayer catch-up service to Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.

An Army base in Pembrokeshire is to close with 600 troops transferred to St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Samantha Cameron joins thousands of bakers as she cooks up treats for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.

As impacts of the sequester start to take effect around the country, no state is expected to take a bigger economic hit than Virginia. Home of the Pentagon and much of the defense industry, Virginia is bracing for Department of Defense cutbacks that could furlough almost 90,000 employees and reduce work hours by about 20 percent. Those in Virginia's large military population might be physically farther away, many in Iraq or Afghanistan, but they're expected to feel the reverberations of the sequestration as well. Governor of Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell, spoke with Marketplace Morning Report host Jeremy Hobson about the months ahead and how his state is preparing.

The Dow gained nearly 100 points this morning, topping 14,225 and breaking into record territory. While most economic stories these days lament the sequestration and tepid GDP growth, the markets appear mostly unfazed.

This weekend, New York subway and bus riders were hit with their fourth fare hike in five years. That money is collected with every swipe of a Metrocard -- a piece of technology that was introduced 20-years-ago and becomes more obsolete by the day. Despite the cards slow slide into obsolescence, riders must now pay a dollar surcharge if they lose or discard their card.

The regulator overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has announced a new idea to reform the mortgage giants. It involves starting a joint venture to bundle mortgages into securities that people can invest in. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government during the housing crisis. At that time they were bleeding red ink. But last week, Freddie Mac announced it made $11 billion in 2012.

“They’re doing as good a job as anyone could want,” says Guy Cecala, who publishes Inside Mortgage Finance, “and it’s unclear whether we could create a system that would be as efficient and as profitable as what’s currently in place right now.”

That’s exactly what the new plan hopes to do. It would create a new entity that would be responsible for the final steps in turning mortgages into securities for investors.

But not everyone likes that idea. Ken Posner, with Capital Bank Financial, says it would allow more  government involvement in the mortgage market.

“When you create a new entity, you haven’t closed the door all the way,” he explains. “You’ve left it open a crack.  And that could come back to haunt you.”

Congress and President Obama have the final say on government housing policy -- and whether Fannie and Freddie stay or go. 

The UK is to meet Germany and "a series of European nations who share our concerns" over stopping "benefit tourism", Iain Duncan Smith says.

Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, died soon after the crash. Raizy Glauber had been about seven months pregnant. Their premature son died Monday. Now, police are looking for 44-year-old Julio Acevedo. He spent time in prison after a manslaughter conviction.

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A senior nurse at Stafford Hospital refused to help lift a seriously ill elderly patient from a wheelchair, a tribunal hears.

British forces families share their thoughts on UK German presence

Senegal's President Macky Sall says the government will close down Koranic schools that fail to meet basic safety standards after a fire kills nine children.

Background checks on a psychotic killer by police officers would not have stopped her murdering again, the Met Police insists.

Randy Blythe, frontman of US metal band Lamb of God, is acquitted by a Czech court of causing the death of a fan at a concert in Prague in 2010.

The Venezuelan president is having difficulty breathing and has a new "severe" infection, as his vice president has taken over the day-to-day running of government.

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