UK - Twenty million homes will be hit with hosepipe bans tomorrow to cope with the worsening drought, the Daily Mail can reveal. Water companies in the South and East of England, where rainfall has been too low for nearly two years, will announce restrictions affecting one in three homes in the UK. Other areas could soon follow.
UK - Britain is ready to fight over the Falklands if necessary, Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne has warned Argentina. Speaking ahead of a two-day visit to Argentina’s neighbour, Chile, Liberal Democrat Mr Browne said: “We believe the Falklands are properly defended and we have to defend them because of the political situation created by Argentina.”
ASHDOD, ISRAEL - Over the past three days, Gaza terrorists have launched over 150 attacks on southern Israel. The city of Ashdod has been targeted more often than it was even at the height of the Cast Lead campaign, residents say.
USA - A singularly remarkable event has taken place in the United States of America. This event occurred in Arizona on March 1st and was an earth shattering revelation. A long awaited press conference was given by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a five time elected Sheriff, which should have made national and international headlines.
USA - Let the president be duly warned. Representative Walter B Jones Jr, Republican for North Carolina, has introduced a resolution declaring that should the president use offensive military force without authorization of an act of Congress, “it is the sense of Congress” that such an act would be “an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.”
BERLIN, GERMANY/DAMASCUS, SYRIA - Government advisors in Berlin are debating war scenarios for a possible western military intervention in Syria. According to the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), a "full-blown civil war" is looming in that country, running "also along confessional lines."
UK - Almost two-thirds of Britain's 'problem families' have no father at home, official research has found. Some 72,000 of the most dysfunctional families - 60 per cent of those identified by the Government as 'troubled' - are headed by a single mother.
UK - The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is intensifying its campaign against the government's plan to legalise same-sex marriage. In a letter to be read in 2,500 parish churches later, the Church's two most senior archbishops say the change would reduce the significance of marriage. The letter says Roman Catholics have a duty to make sure it does not happen.
USA - A strong space weather storm packed a late punch overnight and ended up being the most significant geomagnetic event since 2004, US experts said Friday, warning more disruption was coming this weekend. The fusillade of radiation from the Sun caused limited power grid upsets, forced airlines to reroute around the poles and sparked vivid displays of the Northern Lights in some parts of the world.
GERMANY - Germany wants to reignite a debate over creating an EU constitution to strengthen the bloc's ability to fight off financial troubles and counter-balance the rising influence of emerging economies, Germany's foreign minister said on Friday.
ITALY - Jeweller Mattia Cielo opened his exclusive boutique on top Italian luxury street Via Montenapoleone last October, only to see the flow of clients peter out after the government curbed the use of cash. So when Rome bowed to pressure and scrapped the 1,000-euro ($1,300) limit on cash use by foreigners after only eight weeks, Cielo uncorked a bottle of champagne in celebration.
JAPAN - With a moment of silence, prayers and anti-nuclear rallies, Japan marked on Sunday one year since an earthquake and tsunami killed thousands and set off a radiation crisis that shattered public trust in atomic power and the nation's leaders.
UK - Christians do not have a right to wear a cross or crucifix openly at work, the Government is to argue in a landmark court case. In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.
UK/AFGHANISTAN - With two weeks left of his diplomatic career, Sir William Patey could be forgiven for being discreet. Instead, as he sits in his office in Kabul, the British ambassador to Afghanistan is undiplomatically frank about what he sees as the errors and failings over the past decade.
ISRAEL - Israel's ambassador to the United Nations: Arab diplomats have been saying behind closed doors they support a military strike on Iran. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, said on Friday that he is concerned about the slowness of the international community regarding Iran's nuclear program but is encouraged by the fact that Arab countries are speaking out against Iran.