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The government is expected to set out to restore the link between the state pension and earnings, in a bill to be outlined in next week's Queen's Speech. The bill is expected to commit the government to announcing at the beginning of the next Parliament when the link will be restored. It is also expected to say that at least 70% of women retiring will receive the full state pension by 2010. Next month a White Paper will outline a plan for personal pension accounts. The state pension-earnings ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda may be planning to attack rail and air travel in Europe -- possibly targeting the busy holiday travel season -- according to intelligence findings, the "CBS Evening News" reported on Friday. The report, citing Arab and other intelligence sources, said interrogations of al Qaeda suspects who recently left Afghanistan and Pakistan raised the concerns. "One suspect s ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. military leaders have begun a broad review of strategy in Iraq and other crisis areas in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, The New York Times reported in Saturday editions. Citing Pentagon officials, the Times reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace had assembled a team of what it called some of the military's brightest and mo ...

Former French rugby captain Marc Cecillon has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for murdering his wife. Cecillon, 47, had admitted shooting his wife, Chantal, with a revolver at a party in 2004 but had denied murder. Cecillon, who won 46 caps for France between 1988 and 1995, said he was depressed and drunk at the time and did not intend to kill her. But the court in Isere found him guilty of murder, rather than the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. His 20-year sentence was five ye ...

Donald Rumsfeld, who quit as US defence secretary this week, may face criminal charges in Germany for alleged abuses in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. A complaint has been launched by the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, representing a Saudi detained in Cuba and 11 Iraqis held in Baghdad. German law allows the pursuit of cases originating anywhere in the world. The centre made a similar request in 2004 but German prosecutors dropped that case. Resignation The Centre for Constitutional R ...

The Archbishop of York has condemned what he called the systematic erosion of Christianity from public life. Dr John Sentamu told lay readers illiberal atheists were undermining Britain's religious heritage. He criticised government officials for sending Christmas cards marked season's greetings and Torbay council's decision to remove a cross from a crematorium. Christians should be more politically active to ensure their principles were not purged from society, he added. Dr Sentamu also cri ...

Somalia's Islamist leaders say they have agreed a deal to avoid hostilities with the transitional government. The deal was sealed by the Islamists and a parliamentary delegation led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan. However, Mr Adan does not carry the authorisation of the transitional government, which has made no comment yet on the agreement. The Islamists have taken control of most of southern Somalia since seizing the capital, Mogadishu, in June. 'Headed for peace' The deal is an att ...

People across the UK will observe a two-minute silence at 1100 GMT to mark Armistice Day, the start of a weekend of events honouring Britain's war dead. At a service in Trafalgar Square, London, the Royal British Legion will be encouraging people to put poppies in the square's fountains. Later, the Queen will attend the dedication of a London memorial honouring New Zealand's war sacrifice. She  ...

Europeans think there are more obese adults and children today than there were five years ago, according to a new poll by the European Union. However the proportion of people who consider themselves overweight, at 38%, is roughly the same as in 2002. An average EU citizen now weighs 72.2kg (11st 5lb) and is 1.7m (5ft 7in) tall. About one in five have changed their eating habits in the last year, with most of these trying to eat more fruit and vegetables, and less fat. More women 'overweight' ...

A new mass grave containing more than 100 victims of the Srebrenica massacre of 1995 has been found in north-eastern Bosnia, a forensic team has said. An anonymous tip-off led the experts to the site in Snagovo, about 50km (30 miles) north of Srebrenica. The head of the forensic team said the bodies were probably buried elsewhere and moved to the site with bulldozers. Nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Serb forces who overran Srebrenica in July 1995. Identity clues The new sit ...