National / International News

An email from South Yorkshire's chief constable about the Hillsborough families' campaign is strongly criticised by the police watchdog.

When it comes to protecting the environment and issues like worker well-being and women's rights, 10 of the world's biggest food producers get failing grades from Oxfam, an activist group for the poor.

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When it comes to protecting the environment and issues like worker well-being and women's rights, 10 of the world's biggest food producers get failing grades from Oxfam, an activist group for the poor.

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News photos over 24 hours: 26 February

Remember a time not long ago when analysts and pundits predicted the break up of the euro? The European debt crisis has calmed down a lot in the past few months, but elections in Italy have ended in deadlock and uncertainty is back.

Poll results today show power is split between a number of parties, including one led by former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING in Brussels, says a political stalemate means Italy is unlikely to get its financial house in order anytime soon.

"These elections are really another painful reminder that the crisis is far from being over," says Brzeski.

The uncertainty has already driven up Italy’s cost of borrowing. The fear now is that doubt will spread to other euro countries like Spain. Spain continues to grapple with an unemployment rate of 26 percent as it implements deep budget cuts.

"There’s a real problem for Spain, which is that people really don’t have any trust in the government and the reform process," says Luis Garicano of the London School of Economics.

Garicano says the elections in Italy are testing the stability of the euro, and posing an important question: Does the continent really want the currency at all?

The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones reports on some of the apps and gadgets using wireless technology that could be enhancing our lives in the near future, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

An 18-month-old child from southern Scotland diagnosed with swine flu is expected to be released from hospital.

Social media users are increasingly falling foul of the law, so what are the rules on what you can and can't say?

Three teenage boys are convicted of murdering a Liverpool man who was sleeping rough.

More than 2,000 tenants took up the government's Right to Buy discount scheme for social housing in England during the last three months of 2012.

Sri Lankan security forces committed sex crimes against Tamils held in custody during and after the civil war, a Human Rights Watch report says.

Also: Some authors are buying spots on bestseller lists; the legacy of Philip Roth; and details of Thomas Pynchon's next novel.

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Apple is to offer US parents compensation for purchases in app games made by their children without permission.

The death toll is reported to be near 20. What caused the fire and crash has yet to be determined. Balloon rides over the ancient city of Luxor and nearby historic sites are popular among tourists. Those killed are said to have been from Japan, Britain, Belgium and France.

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Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman, known for his flamboyant "bad boy" image, arrives in North Korea to film a TV programme.

Officials from the Liberal Democrats are to meet the Metropolitan Police to discuss allegations made about the party's former chief executive Lord Rennard.

A former boyfriend of model and Formula 1 chief's daughter Tamara Ecclestone is jailed for four years for trying to blackmail her.

Veterans who served on Arctic convoys and in Bomber Command during World War II are to be recognised with a new medal and award.

Electronics giant HP is selling off the code, staff and technology involved in its WebOS software to Korean firm LG.

"Vulcan" has won a public vote to name two recently discovered moons of Pluto.