A surge of low-grade stars has thrown the celebrity world into a sub-prime crisis. Now where’s Mervyn King? Going by this weekend’s headlines, setting next year’s citizenship test should be a doddle.

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Celebrity world is in sub-prime crisis

Trial by cobbles could further unsettle Tour de France contenders who are already battered and bruised So, after two quiet, uneventful days of the 2010 Tour de France, the riders head for the cobbles. With almost all the major contenders nursing bumps and scrapes, some more serious than others, the last thing any of them wants to do today is ride across nine miles of bone-jarring pavé .

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Riders prepare for bump and grind

Opponents say it is ‘confusing’ to vote in referendum on electoral reform on same day as local elections The coalition government is facing the first serious challenge to its stability as Labour, nationalist parties and Tory backbenchers combined to oppose the choice of 5 May next year for the referendum on a new voting system for the Commons.

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Challenge to AV referendum date

BBC Trust halts plans to close digital radio station in a report that also criticises BBC1 for dearth of ‘creative risk’ Four months after declaring it attracted too few listeners to justify its existence, the BBC yesterday scrapped its proposal to close the digital radio station 6 Music, following a vociferous public campaign. The reprieve, announced by the BBC Trust, the corporation’s governing body, in its interim response to the closure plans put forward in March, prompted jubilant scenes at the station’s London base, where one senior insider described the atmosphere as: “A mix of celebration, amazing belief in people power – and relief.” The trust said: “The case has not been made for the closure of 6 Music,” but there was no such good news for Asian Network, another digital radio station that caters to a small but under-represented audience, which will close as planned

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Easy listening for 6 Music fans

• Citizens who knowingly take chances face liability • Fear proposed law may hit reporters and aid workers French tourists who run into trouble after taking unnecessary risks overseas could have to pay for their rescue and repatriation under legislation debated today by MPs in Paris. The proposed law, put forward by a government tired of having to foot the bill, would enable the state to demand reimbursement for “all or part of the costs … of foreign rescue operations” if it deems that travellers had ventured knowingly and without “legitimate motive” into risky territory.

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France ponders law on risky trips

The CWU was warned by its lawyers that ‘technical breaches’ meant BT would probably have overturned the result in the courts A ballot that could have brought more than half of BT’s staff out on strike has been cancelled following legal advice. The Communication Workers Union abandoned the vote after its lawyers warned that “technical breaches” meant BT would probably have overturned the result in the courts

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Union cancels BT strike ballot

A couple of parents have been criticised for letting their young children cycle a mile to school At what age should children be allowed to cycle unsupervised?

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When can kids cycle on their own?

Michael Steele under pressure to resign after saying US cannot win in Afghanistan, a ‘war of Obama’s choosing’ The leader of the Republican party in the US, Michael Steele, is under pressure to resign after he suggested that the US cannot win in Afghanistan and described the conflict as a “war of Obama’s choosing”. Steele’s comments highlighted divisions among those conservatives who support the war and others, particularly within the Tea Party movement, who object to the billions of tax dollars being spent in Afghanistan and Iraq. One leading Republican senator said the latest in a string of gaffes by Steele “could not have come at a worse time” for the party, prior to November’s midterm elections

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Republican leader faces calls to quit

Interim leader wins election despite last-minute surge in support for late Polish president’s twin brother A surge of sympathy after his twin brother was killed in a plane crash was not enough to propel Jaroslaw Kaczynski to the Polish presidency, as results from Sunday’s election gave a narrow victory to his centre-right rival Bronislaw Komorowski. Komorowski won the presidential vote by 53% of the votes to 47% for Kaczynski, according to final results released this afternoon. Komorowski was initially hesitant about declaring victory as the count swung back and forth

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Komorowski wins Polish election

Britain’s film institute wants to find scores of lost films, including famous director’s The Mountain Eagle The Mountain Eagle, a 1928 black and white silent movie, is a ripping yarn about a dastardly father, a crippled son, a lovely schoolteacher and an innocent imprisoned.

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BFI hunts missing Hitchcock movie