Children among survivors
Three children were among the 19 survivors from the Madrid air crash, officials in Spain have said.
The three - aged six, eight and 11 - escaped after a holiday jet crashed in flames. Another 19 children including two babies were among the 153 dead.
As Spain observes three days of mourning, flags flew at half-mast and the king and queen plan to visit a makeshift morgue to meet relatives.
Plane black box recovered
Investigators probing the Spanish plane crash that killed 153 people have recovered the black box flight recorder from the stricken Spanair jet.
They are trying to work out why the MD-82, bound for the Canary Islands, crashed in flames on take-off at Madrid airport, leaving just 19 survivors.
Spanair said the MD-82 experienced overheating in an air intake valve before taking off.
Data on criminals lost
Personal details relating to thousands of criminals have been lost in the latest Government data blunder.
The Home Office said a computer memory stick containing information on about 10,000 prolific offenders has been lost by a contractor and a probe has begun.
PA Consulting warned the department on Monday that the stick - which also contains data on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales - might be lost.
Glitter on flight to UK
Shamed pop star Gary Glitter has finally left Bangkok and is heading for London, the Foreign Office said.
The 64-year-old had reportedly refused to return to Britain after his release on Tuesday from a Vietnam prison, where he had been held for abusing two girls.
But having failed to gain entry to Thailand on two occasions and Hong Kong once, Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, agreed to fly to London Heathrow.
Record GCSE results
Britain's teenagers have notched up record GCSE results as the number of top grades soared higher than ever.
The number of A* or A grades rose to more than one in five (20.7%) for the first time and 65.7% of candidates were awarded a C grade or above.
But the celebrations were marred by two deaths. Esther Bush, 16, was killed by a lorry in Wales and Ahmed Benyermak, also 16, fell from flats in London.
Brown hails Afghan troops
Gordon Brown has hailed British troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan as the true heroes of the Olympic year.
The PM told troops: "You make our country proud every day of the week and every week of the year. You are truly the heroes of our country."
Mr Brown was speaking during a stopover to meet Afghan president Hamid Karzai at Camp Bastion in Helmand, while on his way to the Games in Beijing.
Idowu claims silver medal
Londoner Phillips Idowu has continued Britain's impressive Olympic campaign with a silver medal in the triple jump at the Games in Beijing.
Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson struck gold in the Star class to secure Team GB's fourth sailing gold, confirming them as the top country in the regatta.
Their victory came after Welshman David Davies won a silver medal in the 10km open water swimming event.
GB plane gets gold nose job
The British Airways plane due to bring Team GB back from the Olympics in Beijing is undergoing an unusual nose job to reflect the team's success.
Normally dark blue, the nose of the Boeing 747 is being repainted gold after the team's medal-winning efforts.
BA boss Willie Walsh said: "It is right that a gold nose cone should adorn the aircraft that brings the team home to the UK. We salute our Olympians."
Personal debt higher than GDP
Personal debt in the UK is higher than the income generated by the country as a whole for the second year running, research shows.
The amount owed on mortgages, loans and credit cards rose 7.3% during the year to the end of June to £1.444 trillion, said accountants Grant Thornton.
But during the same period gross domestic product rose by only 5.1% in nominal terms to £1.41 trillion.
Child detention criticised
Children are being incarcerated for too long at an immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire and becoming distressed and scared, prison inspectors said.
The average length of time children are held at the Yarl's Wood centre has almost doubled from eight to 15 days in the last two years, a report found.
The children being held are receiving "inadequate" education and have little to do after school, said inspectors.
Children 'not active enough'
Young people do not participate in enough physical activity to be healthy, research has revealed.
A survey of 1,083 youngsters aged seven to 18 said 89% enagage in far less physical activity than is recommended by the Department of Health.
Taken as a representative sample for the country, this means eight million young people are not getting enough exercise, said the KidsOutdoors group.
Russians pledge withdrawal
Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said that a withdrawal of non-peacekeeping troops from Georgia will be completed by the end of Friday.
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner hailed reported Russian tank movements, adding: "We are waiting for the Russians to respect their word".
But in Washington, US defence department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the moves appeared cosmetic.
Murder probe plea to Chinese
The detective leading the investigation into the brutal double murder of two graduates will speak directly to the Chinese community in Britain.
Xi Zhou and her boyfriend Zhen Xing Yang, both 25, were found hacked to death in their flat in Newcastle.
During the police inquiry, which has stretched to China, it has emerged Mr Yang may have made enemies by getting involved in an internet betting scam.
Inquest into mauling death
An inquest will take place into the death of 13-month-old Archie-Lee Hirst who was mauled to death by his grandparents' rottweiler dog.
Archie-Lee was spending Christmas at his grandparents' house in Wakefield when the dog launched the unexpected attack in December last year.
At the time, Archie-Lee's 16-year-old aunt was babysitting him and her two younger sisters, aged six and seven.