· International envoys' Zimbabwe visit condemned by Robert Mugabe
A trio of elder statesmen are set to fly in to inspect the situation in Zimbabwe this weekend despite, claims from President Mugabe that they are not welcome and are bent on “illegal regime change”.

· Pirates bolster defences around hijacked tanker
Somali pirates are building up their defences around a captured Saudi Arabian super-tanker after demanding a $25 million ransom for the ship and its huge cargo of crude oil.$

· British sailor rescued after four days on life-raft
A British sailor was rescued after spending four days in an life-raft off the coast of Spain, it emerged today.

· Pentagon wants British Iraq forces redeployed in Afghanistan 'surge'
The Pentagon wants Britain to use troops withdrawn from Iraq to reinforce Nato’s mission in Afghanistan, despite strong misgivings in the Ministry of Defence.

· Suicide video - what can de done? Not much
A teenager commits suicide and allows others to watch his death over the internet. The first reaction is: how can it be prevented? It seems, short of taking all live videos down from the web, it can’t.

· Fake Qantas engineer gives court fake references
For nine months, Timothy McCormack worked as a senior engineer for Qantas, performing high level maintenance jobs on scores of planes and certifying dozens of others as air-worthy.

· Briton found guilty of throwing lover off Sydney cliff
Thirteen years after a young model's body was found at the bottom of a 180 foot cliff in Sydney, her British boyfriend has been convicted of her murder.

· Conrad Black asks George Bush for clemency
Conrad Black, the peer who once owned The Daily Telegraph, has asked for a pardon from President Bush as part of a last ditch attempt to get out of jail early.

· Asian markets fall in wake of Wall St panic
Stock markets across Asia tumbled this morning amid fears that the American economy is set to plunge further into a deep recession as the US car industry is left to collapse.

· Horror as teenager commits suicide live online
A 19-year-old man has committed suicide live on the internet encouraged by others who were watching, according to reports.