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By David Brunnstrom and Mark John BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers agreed on Friday to back a Palestinian national unity government being formed by President Mahmoud Abbas with the Hamas Islamist movement, despite U.S. misgivings. But ministers said it was too early to decide whether to resume direct aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority and they agreed in the meantime to extend a temporary aid scheme bypassing Hamas for another three months. A statement by the 2 ...

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss Re on Friday said it was considering selling its landmark London office building at 30 Saint Mary Axe, known to Londoners as 'the Gherkin' because of its distinctive shape on the City of London skyline. No decision on the sale had been reached, the company said in a statement. "Swiss Re remains committed to London as one of the most important cities for the financial ser ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A father pleaded guilty on Friday to the manslaughter of his two-year old daughter who was killed when a 12-year-old boy under his supervision ran over her with a lorry. Garry Collier, 37 had been looking after both children in July 2005 when the boy got into a lorry at Collier's waste management and demolition business in Feltham, Middlesex, and knocked the toddler over. Judg ...

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Polar bears are drowning and receding Arctic glaciers have uncovered previously unknown islands in a drastic 2006 summer thaw widely blamed on global warming. Signs of wrenching changes are apparent around the Arctic region due to unusual warmth -- the summer minimum for ice is usually reached between mid-September and early October be ...

By Tim Castle LONDON (Reuters) - National Health Service workers will stage two 24-hour strikes over the next two weeks which could seriously disrupt medical and food supplies to hospitals across England. Public service union Unison said on Friday the first walkout at five NHS Logistics depots would start on September 21 after staff voted to strike last week. The action is in protest against plans to outsource the medical supplies service to German-owned courier company DHL and American healt ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A man with dual French-Algerian nationality has been deported to France from Britain on suspicion he poses a risk to national security, the Home Office said on Friday. "A foreign national who had been identified as representing a threat to the national security of the UK was yesterday deported to France," the Home Office said in a statement. "The individual, who has dual French-Algerian nationality, is the third person to be deported from the UK on national security grounds. ...

By Oliver Holmes LONDON (Reuters) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu's alma mater said on Friday it was launching an Internet archive with thousands of documents and audio tapes on the life of the South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The 4.5-million-pound project would provide a free, interactive digital resource about his humanitarian teachings and South Africa's struggle for democracy, London University's King's College said. King's computer experts will collaborate with the University of the W ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers agreed on Friday to back a Palestinian national unity government being formed by President Mahmoud Abbas with the Hamas movement, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said. "We agreed that we have to support the new Palestinian government. It's a very important turning point for the situation," D'Alema told Reuters after EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana briefed the 25 ministers on the expected platform of the new government. "Javie ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned on Friday it would be very difficult for Northern Ireland's feuding politicians to strike a deal on power-sharing if they failed to agree by a November deadline. Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern, both of whom have invested huge political capital in Northern Ireland over the past decade, met on Friday in southern E ...

By Oliver Holmes LONDON (Reuters) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu's alma mater said on Friday it is launching an Internet archive with thousands of documents and audio tapes on the life of the South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The 4.5 million-pound project will provide a free, interactive digital resource about his humanitarian teachings and South Africa's struggle for democracy, King's College said. King's computer experts will collaborate with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johann ...