Britain will soon sign a comprehensive pact with Iran similar to the pullout and framework agreements signed between Baghdad and Washington, official al-Sabah newspaper reported on Monday.

In an international index measuring one-night stands, total numbers of partners and attitudes to casual sex, Britain comes out ahead of Australia, the US, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

Britain said it would do more to help its ailing economy, as a UN aid conference opened in Doha to help developing nations weather the global financial storm.

World leaders condemned overnight attacks by gunmen in India's commercial hub Mumbai in which at least 86 people were killed and 250 others wounded.

A dog's life? It will probably be the object of envy in Britain, which will soon have the world's costliest dog house, pegged at 250,000 pounds ($380,000).

Britain has unveiled a major economic stimulus package worth 20 billion pounds to reignite consumer spending and help the nation recover from a deep and painful recession expected in 2009.

Britain is set to launch its maiden moon mission to study the phenomenon of mysterious moonquakes, weeks after India's spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully entered the lunar orbit.

The US and Britain tried to persuade a top advocate of Bangladesh to help roll back the country's liberation struggle in 1971, citing future threats from "Hindu majority India", says a book by a former Indian diplomat.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband will urge Arab leaders to clearly state their opposition to a nuclear-armed Iran and to engage more fully with the Middle East peace process.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown held talks on Thursday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose government is calling for more foreign troops to help quell a deadly Taliban insurgency.

In a change of strategy sought by US President-elect Barack Obama, Britain on Tuesday indicated that it would consider sending more troops to Afghanistan provided other coalition partners also shared the burden.

In a significant development, Britain on Monday said it has lifted six-year-long ban on export of sensitive nuclear technology to India for civilian purpose.

Al Qaida-linked extremists are planning attacks intended to cause mass casualties in the UK, a top British intelligence report has warned.

British authorities have revoked the visas of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman, an airline official told AFP on Saturday.

The new document, approved by Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, formalises the system of self-government on the South Atlantic archipelago while giving London the final say on matters of foreign policy, policing and the administration of justice

Britons are craving strong Indian spices more than ever, with a research indicating a major rise in sales of spices and ready made Indian meals in London in recent months.

For Britons, it seems that the term "job satisfaction" has a whole new meaning, with one in five admitting to sex at work.

Britain, whose troops are part of the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan has said it will be possible to crush the Taliban and bring the war-torn nation back on the path of development, but it will be long way off.

The 12 million pound car is called Bloodhound SSC, named after the British supersonic air defence missiles of the cold war era.

A summit of world leaders on the global financial crisis will be held in Washington in November, the White House announced on Wednesday, amid warnings that widespread recession is now inevitable.

Britain's defence ministry made public secret files on UFO sightings on Monday, with the dossier including reports ranging from a woman claiming to be an alien to calm pilots giving objective accounts.

A British aid worker was shot dead in the Afghan capital on Monday in a killing claimed by the Islamic Taliban militia which accused her organisation of "preaching Christianity."

Britain will impose tougher restrictions on immigration as the global financial crisis lifts unemployment, the country's new Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas, said in an interview on Saturday.

London's Olympic chiefs are having to rework their budgets as the global credit crunch squeezes private funding for the 2012 Games -- although Team GB's success in Beijing has helped boost the coffers.

BThe British government announced a 50 billion pounds ($87.5 billion) plan on Wednesday to partly nationalize major banks, with taxpayers taking stakes in a bid to shore up a financial sector hard hit by the world financial crisis.