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By Madeline Thomas LONDON (Reuters) - Parents pamper their children at Christmas by lavishing gifts worth an average 150 pounds on their little darlings, one leading building society said on Monday, but only half save anything for their children's future. Yorkshire Building Society said parents did their children no favours by blowing such a vast amount of money on short-term gifts. "While not  ...

By Matthew Jones LONDON (Reuters) - An inquest into the deaths of Britons killed by last year's Indian Ocean tsunami began on Monday at a special court in London, attended by families of victims, police and expert witnesses. In total, 141 British nationals or those people with a special association with Britain are thought to have died on Boxing Day, 2004, but the inquests will only be into the deaths of 93, the number of those repatriated. West London Coroner Alison Thompson said the four-da ...

By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - A man, who was so obsessed with the U.S. rapper Eminem that he dressed like him, had the same tattoos and used to perform the same dance routines, was jailed for life on Monday for battering a woman to death. Christopher Duncan, 21, forced his victim to undergo a torrid sexual ordeal before he beat her round the head with a metal baseball bat and, although sh ...

By Michael Georgy and Luke Baker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The first witness to face Saddam Hussein in court told of horrors committed under his rule on Monday, including a human meat grinder, after Saddam's defence team challenged the U.S.-backed trial and briefly walked out. Ahmed Hassan, a 38-year-old from Dujail, the town where gunmen tried to kill the then Iraqi president in 1982, told the court he and his family were seized after the attack and quizzed under torture. He said they were taken t ...

By Yasser Faisal and Deepa Babington BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen seized a French engineer from outside his home in Baghdad on Monday, beating their screaming victim as they hauled him to their getaway car, neighbours said. It was the third kidnapping of Westerners in Iraq in 10 days, after a lull in such abductions in recent months. French and Iraqi officials identified him as Bernard Planche, an employee of a non-governmental organisation who worked at the Rusafa water treatment plant in east ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A man arrested near London last week on suspicion of terrorism offences was charged on Monday with five breaches of security laws. Kazi Nurur Rahman, a 28-year-old plumber from east London, was arrested on November 29 on a road near South Mimms service station in Hertfordshire. A police source said the arrest was not connected with the London bombings in July. Rahman, who was ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair will hold a string of bilateral meetings with European Union leaders this week in a race to agree a budget deal before his presidency of the bloc ends. Britain will publish its proposals to break the deadlock over the 2007-2013 budget later on Monday. Blair must then convince EU leaders to support his compromise, paving the way for a deal at a Dec 15-16 Brussels summit. Blair will meet the prime ministers of Portugal, Finland, Slovenia, Sweden and t ...

By Saul Hudson ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Maryland (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday defended U.S. treatment of terrorism suspects, telling European allies they should trust the United States as they cooperate in intelligence operations to prevent new attacks. But in a lengthy statement before leaving on a trip to Europe, Rice did not directly address the allegation the CIA has run secret prisons in Eastern Europe, an accusation that has been a lightning rod for outrage ac ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned the tables on European critics of tough U.S. tactics in the war on terror Monday, maintaining that intelligence gathered by the CIA has saved European lives. Responding for the first time in detail to the outcry over reports of secret CIA-run prisons in European democracies, Rice said the United States "will use every lawful weapon to defeat these terrorists." But in remarks as she prepared to leave on a trip to Europe, she steadfas ...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- An explosion that ripped through an oil pipeline connected to Venezuela's largest oil refinery was caused by government foes attempting to disrupt congressional elections, officials said Sunday. Interior Minister Jesse Chacon said C-4 explosives were used to blow up the pipeline Saturday night and that officials believed the act was aimed at trying to destabilize the co ...