National / International News

A watchdog investigates whether a police force acted quickly enough in its investigation of a rock star accused of child sexual offences.

Nearly half of the timber exported from Mozambique to China is illegal, with politicians and traders involved in smuggling, a pressure group says.

A botnet that took control of up to one million computers is shut down in a major security operation.

Net firms, banks, hospitals and other may be required to report all cyber break-ins under new EU proposals.

A Manchester City footballer admits causing the death of two people by careless driving.

President Obama is meeting with House Democrats today to rally support for several items on his agenda, including immigration reform.

Lawmakers are still trying to work through some disagreements on the issue, such as whether a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants should be contingent on tighter border security. One industry that is closely following the negotiations is the U.S. agriculture sector.

"The agriculture industry has been a big proponent of immigration reform," says Stephen Keppel, economics editor for Univsion News. According to Keppel, 75 percent of all farm workers in America were born in Mexico and 53 percent of those are undocumented.

If Congress takes the path of mass deportations, it would be a crushing blow to the farming industry and the economy at large, Keppel adds:

"There are some estimates that it would cost maybe $285 billion to deport all undocumented immigrants. It could cost the economy $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years," he says.

Ten years after Andy Flower & Henry Olonga risked their lives to take a stand against the Mugabe regime, BBC Sport hears the story from the men themselves

UK industrial output rose by 1.1% in December, the Office for National Statistics says, higher than many economists had forecast.

The administrators of HMV announce that 66 of the music and DVD retailer's stores will close over the next two months, affecting 930 staff.

Planning permission has been granted for a new theatre to be built on the site of an Elizabethan theatre where Shakespeare worked

Changing NHS culture will not be easy, says Nick Triggle

This final note today, in which we learn once again that timing truly is everything.

A German man -- Phllip Lupke, by name -- has won a 10,000 Euro gift card from Apple. Seems he's the guy who bought the 25 billionth song on iTunes. Twenty-five billion times 99 cents or so is a pretty good business model.

It's also created something of a problem for Apple. It's been sued by the hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who's upset with how long its taking the company to give some of the $45 billion in cash it's sitting on back to investors.

A consortium of Scottish scientists beats off international competition to secure a £100m contract for drugs research.

German electro pioneers Kraftwerk win rave reviews for the first of their eagerly-anticipated series of eight shows at the Tate Modern.

US officials agree to release to Congress documents justifying drone strikes on Americans suspected of working with terrorist groups.

The cost of corruption has risen sharply in Afghanistan over the last few years but fewer people are paying bribes, a UN report says.

Nick Robinson on Michael Gove's decision to rethink exam plans

London Mayor Boris Johnson has demanded that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gets his Cabinet colleagues out of their "posh limos" and onto public transport.

Colombia's Farc rebels propose land use reform, including the legalisation of some coca, poppy and marijuana crops, during peace talks with the government.

Aftershocks continue to rock the Solomon Islands, a day a tsunami left at least nine people dead and swept dozens of houses away.