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Obama phones Mandela's widow to express sadness
Barack Obama has spoken to Nelson Mandela's widow Graca Machel on the phone to express condolences over the death of the former South African president at the age of 95.
The US President and first lady Michelle Obama are due to visit South Africa next week to participate in memorial events.
In a statement the White House said: "The President thanked Mrs Machel for the profound influence that Nelson Mandela has had on him, and underscored the power of President Mandela’s example for the people of South Africa and the entire world.
"President Obama expressed gratitude and thanks for the joy that Graça Machel brought to Nelson Mandela’s life, and the commitment to a peaceful, fair, and loving world that she and President Mandela shared."
Football crowds to pay respects to Nelson Mandela
A minute's applause in honour of Nelson Mandela will be held before Premier League football matches this weekend, while the Scottish Professional Football League and the Football League have also encouraged that similar tributes take place.
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Clean up of tidal surge as communities count the cost
Communities and insurers are counting the cost after the most serious tidal surge in 60 years devastated large swathes of the east coast of Britain.
Thousands of people who were evacuated from their homes will be assessing the damage after finally being allowed to return to their homes yesterday.
A major clean-up operation will be required. The Environment Agency (EA) said 1,400 homes were flooded, including 300 in Boston, Lincolnshire, one of the worst affected areas.
World Trade Organisation: 'We are back in business'
The WTO Trade talks, which had opened on Tuesday, nearly came unstuck at the last minute. At the eleventh hour, Cuba suddenly refused to accept a deal that would not help pry open the US embargo of the Caribbean island, forcing negotiations to drag into Saturday morning.
– WTO chief RobertoFor the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered.
This time the entire membership came together. We have put the 'world' back in World Trade Organisation.
We're back in business... Bali is just the beginning.
Cuba later agreed on a compromise with the United States.
WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told exhausted ministers after the talks which had dragged into an extra day on the tropical resort island.
World Trade Organisation reaches first ever trade deal
The World Trade Organisation reached its first ever trade reform deal on Saturday to the roar of approval from nearly 160 ministers.
They had gathered on the Indonesian island of Bali to decide on the make-or-break agreement that could add $1trillion to the global economy
The approval came after Cuba dropped a last-gasp threat to veto the package of measures.
Small business offered grants for high speed broadband
The announcement of small business grants for high speed broadband coincides with the Small Business Saturday initiative promoting the firms Mr Cameron described as the "lifeblood of our economy".
– Prime Minister David CameronUp to £3,000 of broadband vouchers for small business in these cities is not only a massive boost for growth in the UK, but also has the potential to bring China to Cardiff, Brazil to Bristol and the Emirates to Edinburgh in an increased export market.
To do that we are working on a complete overhaul of the UK's infrastructure; high speed broadband is a vital part of this. And on Small Business Saturday, what better way to support small businesses - the lifeblood of our economy - than to help kit them out for the 21st century.
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Small business £100m boost to install fast broadband
Small businesses in 10 cities across the UK will be able to apply for grants to install high speed broadband as part of a £100 million scheme to boost growth and exports.
Firms in Belfast, Salford, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Derby, Bristol, Edinburgh, Newport, London and Manchester will be able to access grants worth up to £3,000 to improve their connections, with the scheme due to be extended to 12 more cities next year.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted to give firms the ability to set up or locate anywhere in the UK.
Less than 50% of cancer patients seen in many practices
In around half of the practices in the sample, fewer than 50 per cent of cancer patients were seen through the two-week system. Not all patients with cancer visit their GP with symptoms.
Some are diagnosed in A&E, while others have cancer detected during routine tests, or are referred straight to A&E by their GPs because their symptoms are so bad.
The new data has been published by NHS England as part of a raft of information to help patients work out how well their GP practice is performing.
Jay Z nominated for best rap album Grammy
Jay Z picked up nominations across nine categories in the pop and rap categories, including best pop duo performance for "Suit & Tie" with Justin Timberlake, and best rap album for his July release, "Magna Carta...Holy Grail."
But the 44-year-old Brooklyn, New York-born rapper failed to land solo nominations in the top Grammy categories for record, song and album of the year, scoring only one as a producer on Lamar's "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" record, nominated in the album of the year category.
Lamar's album will face off against Sara Barielles' "The Blessed Unrest," French electro-dance duo Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories," Taylor Swift's "Red" and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "The Heist" for album of the year.
Jay Z and Timberlake lead the charge for Grammys
Rapper Jay Z led the Grammy hopefuls with nine nominations, while pop singer Justin Timberlake and rappers Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis landed seven each.
Jay Z scored nominations across the pop and rap categories, but failed to land any for the top Grammy categories for record, song and album of the year. Timberlake was out of those categories.
Newcomers Lamar, rapper-producer duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and New Zealand singer Lorde dominated in the top categories.
