National / International News

Italy's borrowing costs rise sharply but the government sells all the bonds on offer, in the first test of its ability to borrow money long-term after the election.

The Accident and Emergency department at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch could be downgraded as part of cost-cutting plans.

Beer drinkers in the US have filed a $5m (£3.3m) lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch of watering down its beer.

EU fisheries ministers agree at an all-night session to end the controversial practice of dumping unwanted fish - but with exemptions.

A 51-year-old man from County Armagh is arrested in connection with the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast in 2005.

The National Orchestra of Wales has staged a series of workshops and concerts for deaf people, many of them children, to explore how it is possible to experience music without being able to hear it fully.

A dog walker is raped in West Lothian after she took a short cut through an underpass.

Michael Berkeley CBE, the composer, broadcaster and presenter of Radio 3's Private Passions, is to be made a non-party peer in the House of Lords.

Yahoo has banned its staff from "remote" working. After years of predictions, why is working from home not the norm?

A bus crash in eastern Kenya kills at least 35 passengers, including voters going to their rural homes to vote in Monday's tightly contested election.

Pope Benedict XVI greeted the Catholic masses in St. Peter's Square Wednesday for the last time before retiring on Thursday. He made several rounds of the square as crowds cheered wildly and stopped to kiss a half-dozen children brought up to him by his secretary.

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Tesco's chief executive, Philip Clarke, promises to work more closely with British farmers, ahead of appearing at the NFU's national conference.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has faced questions over the Rennard case during his weekly phone-in on LBC

One of Russia's leading opposition figures, Alexei Navalny, has been accused of obtaining his lawyer's qualifications fraudulently.

Police are to question Willie Frazer and Jamie Bryson, two men prominent in the loyalist union flag protests in Belfast.

Tropical cyclone Rusty hits the town of Pardoo in the coast of Western Australia, but spares the major iron base at Port Hedland.

Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez insists his players support him, despite the club dropping to fourth in the Premier League.

Now that a budgetary doomsday scenario has been laid out for the world’s largest military, you might think China would see this as its golden opportunity to assert itself regionally. Think again, says Jin Canrong, International Relations Professor at Beijing’s Renmin University.

"In the coming years the defense budget will be cut, but the military power of the United States is far ahead of China," says Jin.

But China’s catching up. Last September, Beijing revealed the country’s first aircraft carrier. Ten years ago, the U.S. spent 19-times what China spent on defense. This year, it was down to 5-times.

Shen Dingli, Dean of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, estimates in 10 years, the U.S. will spend $500 billion a year on its military while China’s defense budget will be close behind at $300 billion.

"That’ll certainly have a serious impact on military power in the Pacific." says Shen,  "The U.S. won’t have enough money to support its naval forces at that point and China will."

But China has benefited from the global stability provided by a strong U.S. military. For example, U.S. intervention in Iraq in 1990 helped China, says Shen, by stabilizing global oil prices. And for China, a big military could mean big responsibilities and bigger expenditures.

"I think China should actually decrease military spending alongside the U.S.," says Shen.

In other words, says Shen, cuts in military spending could be good news on both sides of the Pacific.

Jimmy White thinks Ronnie O'Sullivan can still beat Stephen Hendry's record of World Championship wins

The A&E department at Antrim Area Hospital is still not meeting its targets, according to figures obtained by the BBC.