Piped music from the publicity drive of China’s Communist party parallels Bryan Adams’s hit Everything I Do, I Do it For You The pink begonias were bright in their planters; spray from the fountains drifted through the haze.
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Everything I do … I do for the party
Labour claims watchdog has been used to rebut Guardian’s disclosure on the predicted effect of cuts The political independence of the government’s new Office for Budget Responsibility was called into question when it rushed out new employment forecasts after a Guardian leak of Treasury documents showing the budget could destroy 1.3m jobs. As David Cameron came under pressure over the impact of the spending cuts, the OBR released figures confirming the government expects around 600,000 public sector job losses by 2015-16 – but it claimed that a similar public sector jobs cull would have occurred under Labour. The projections were published just before prime minister’s questions, during which Cameron was accused of creating “abject misery” in the jobs market
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Battle breaks out over jobless figures
Anna Chapman, at the heart of the Russian spy ring scandal, lived in a glossy social world and was a serious networker The woman at the centre of one of the most intriguing spying scandals since the cold war rubbed shoulders with some of Britain’s highest profile businessmen at glittering evenings in London nightclubs. Anna Chapman, one of 10 suspected Russian spies who have been charged in the US, was allegedly taken to parties at Annabel’s nightclub attended by top businessmen including private equity billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz and Philip Green, who owns some of the UK’s largest retailers. The emerging picture of the glossy social circles Chapman moved in during her time in Britain mirrors FBI suspicions that the Russian secret service wanted Chapman to ingratiate herself with influential people in the west
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Diplomat’s daughter who partied with billionaires
Frustrated with the baggage fees airlines seem to be throwing at you left and right? UPS has introduced a new product that reminds travelers of an alternative to lugging bags.
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Luggage box an alternative to toting bags
Why must I live in such taxing times? God I hate newspapers. All those “what the budget will mean for you” pieces, if you’re old, unemployed or whatever, and Daddy says not one of them shows what Georgie’s plans mean for a struggling landowner in Scunthorpe and the effect on pig prices.
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Mrs Cameron’s diary
Closeness of contest seen as embarrassing setback for Angela Merkel and her coalition which has been beset by disagreements Christian Wulff, candidate of Germany’s centre-right coalition to become president, narrowly won a cliffhanger election tonight despite the attempt of a group of rebels to turn it into a referendum on Angela Merkel’s authority. Chancellor Merkel was left scrambling to collect last minute support for Wulff from her Christian Democrats (CDU) after malcontents within her alliance defied the party whip in two initial rounds of nail-biting voting and voted against him or abstained.
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Merkel candidate elected president
The Guggenheim keeps building more art galleries around the world. But that’s no bad thing, is it? Hasn’t the Guggenheim heard that the world has changed
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The march of the Guggenheims
Police issue arrest warrant after Christopher Metsos, alleged spy ring paymaster, failed to report to a police station An international hunt is under way after Christopher Metsos, the alleged paymaster of the deep cover Russian spy ring, skipped bail in Cyprus. The Cypriot police issued an arrest warrant when Metsos failed to report to a police station in Larnaca, a condition of his bail after he was detained on an international arrest warrant issued by the FBI
Early exit could bring civil war, says defence secretary, although his comments appear at odds with Cameron’s 2015 vow An early withdrawal of coalition troops from Afghanistan would risk a return of civil war and act as a “shot in the arm to jihadists” across the world, the defence secretary, Liam Fox, warned today. In marked contrast to David Cameron, who pledged over the weekend to withdraw all British troops by 2015, Fox said Britain would be betraying the sacrifices of its fallen soldiers if it left “before the job is finished”.
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Fox: Troops must stay until job done
• No4 seed primed for Friday’s meeting with Rafael Nadal • Federer’s elimination leaves tournament wide open Andy Murray beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with tennis that lit up Wimbledon as the shadows stretched across Centre Court to reach his second consecutive semi-final here, this time against Rafael Nadal. And you believe the No4 seed when he says: “I look forward to it.” Why wouldn’t he? As each of the other leading contenders searches for his best game – including Nadal, who did really well to come back against a rampant Robin Soderling – Murray is in the sort of form that got him to two grand slam finals; the US Open and the Australian Open.
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Murray storms into Wimbledon semi-finals