Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson has died aged 76 after losing his long battle against cancer. Robson, who became England's most successful manager since 1966 after guiding his nation to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup finals, died this morning at his home in County Durham. His final diagnosis of cancer was his fifth and consisted of cancer in both lungs. It was confirmed as terminal in February 2007.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:00:00

Police are appealing for witnesses after an armed man robbed a petrol station in Essex with his face covered with a pair of white underpants. Detectives from Essex police said the incident, which happened at 23:50 GMT on Tuesday, saw a man threaten a cashier with a carving knife while peeping through the leg hole of a pair of white pants. The 36-year-old cashier was unharmed but shaken by the incident.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:00:00

Tamiflu, the drug prescribed for sufferers of swine flu, can cause side-effects including nightmares in children. More than half of children given the drug, which was given out as a preventative measure when the outbreak first occurred, will experience some form of side-effect. The research, published in Eurosurveillance, studied three schools in London and one in the south-west, where 51 to 53 per cent of children showed one or more side-effect.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:15:24

Barack Obama has attempted to move on from an escalating race row by having a black professor and the white officer who arrested him in his own home over for a beer. The United States president last night fulfilled a pledge to have Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge police sergeant Jim Crowley round a table to discuss the former's arrest earlier this month. Joining them in the White House garden was vice president Joe Biden, who alone out of the four men had a non-alcoholic beer.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:15:00

Prosecutors have started proceedings to clarify the law on assisted suicide, following MS sufferer Debbie Purdy's landmark court victory yesterday. The law lords backed her calls for the law to the clarified following her concerns that her husband will face prosecution if she decides to end her life at a Swiss clinic. The director of public prosecutions (DPP), Keir Starmer, is due to consult with the public before issuing interim policy guidance in September of this year, which will be followed by a new permanent policy in the spring of 2010.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:01:00

A British hacker suffering from Asperger's syndrome has lost an appeal against his extradition to the United States. Gary McKinnon, 43, has admitted cracking into American military computers but denies his actions were malicious, insisting instead that he was looking for information on UFOs. US officials though are seeking his extradition and if convicted in America he could face up to 70 years in prison.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:00:00

Police are looking for a group of youths who threw bleach over a woman who asked them to be quiet during a cinema screening of the new Harry Potter film. The 46-year-old victim suffered serious burns in the Leeds incident, which took place after the movie had finished. She had been watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with her husband and two children at the Vue cinema in Kirkstall road on Sunday.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:40:00

A verdict in Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's trial over charges of breaching her house arrest has been delayed until next month. According to diplomatic sources, judges said they needed more time to examine evidence, postponing a verdict until August 11th. The verdict will come in three days after the anniversary of the 8888 uprising (which took place on August 8th 1988) is marked, although any public commemorations in Burma are banned.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:30:00

Swine flu cases in England have reached a "plateau", with 110,000 new cases in the last week. At a briefing in Whitehall, journalists were told the number of cases seems to have levelled out. In previous weeks the number of people being diagnosed had doubled over the course of a week, but today's figures show this may be stabilising.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:45:49

At least two civil guard officers have been killed in a car bomb on the Spanish island of Majorca, sparking an island-wide transport lockdown. All of the island's ports and airports have been closed to prevent the escape of the bombers, who reportedly planted a car bomb outside a barracks in the west of Majorca. Basque separatists Eta have been blamed for a car bomb which injured 46 people in the mainland city of Burgos yesterday.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:30:00