Ann Salter

India's power supply has been fully restored after a two-day blackout hit much of the country. More than 600 million people were affected by the power cut, after three electricity grids collapsed, one for a second consecutive day.

The acclaimed and controversial US writer Gore Vidal has died aged 86, his family has confirmed.

Typhoon Saola has triggered landslides and floods in the Philippines, killing eight and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Gravely ill and more than a little unsteady on his feet here shortly before his death. Not long afterwards Yasser Arafat was rushed to a military hospital in France after he collapsed in the West Bank, his health swiftly declined and he died in 2004.

Great Britain win team silver in the Equestrian after Tina Cook got a double clear in the last show jumping round to secure second place behind gold medal winners Germany.

A massive power breakdown has hit India for a second day running; leaving more than 300 million people without electricity in one of the worst blackouts to hit the country in more than a decade.

Oil giant BP has reported a sharp fall in profits today in the second quarter of the year after it had to cut the value of a number of its key assets. The oil giant posted nearly $5billion in accounting charges.

Following the Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen's record-breaking gold medal performance on Saturday.

You couldn’t make it up, Britain’s Cultural Minister Jeremy Hunt was at the pre-Olympic bell ringing ceremony speaking on TV, saying the games wouldn’t go off completely without a hitch.

Despite the improved revenue, Facebook posted a net loss of £100m. This wobbly result scared investors which resulted in the share price dropping 11% to $23.94 in afterhours trading.

The US said it fears Syrian government forces are preparing to carry out a massacre in Aleppo. Following information that columns of tanks, helicopter gunships and fixed-wing aircraft are being deployed, which suggest preparation for a massacre.

We had the first Olympics event yesterday, Women’s football in Cardiff and a political gaffe involving the wrong flag. But now the eagerly awaited glamorous opening ceremony will take place tomorrow night and be officially opened by the Queen.

Gu Kaili the wife of the disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai , has been charged with the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Who was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing on 15 November 2011.

Battered Beijing, is preparing itself for more bad weather with heavy rains and floods forecast from today through to Saturday.

Daredevil 11 year old Liam Corcoran took himself off to Rome after boarding an international flight from Manchester Airport without a passport, ticket or boarding pass.

Following the sudden death of Ghana’s President John Atta Mills' yesterday. His Vice-President John Dramani Mahama, was sworn in as care taker head of state to replace him, before a sombre parliament.

A young woman who died after being buried under landslide on a beach in Dorset has been named by her uncle as Charlotte Blackman from Derbyshire.

A scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran said computer systems have been hit by a cyber-attack which forced them to play AC/DC’s Thunderstruck at full volume in the middle of the night.

30 people were injured as Typhoon Vicente battered Hong Kong with gale-force winds and torrential rain, grounding flights and shutting port operations.

As the heavy fighting continues throughout Syria, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi spoke on Syrian state TV, to deny, it would use chemical weapons.

Reports claim that troops loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad are battling to regain the upper hand in the country's second city, Aleppo. After reports claim that rebel forces had taken control of three neighbourhoods within Aleppo.

The Chinese capital's heaviest rainstorm in six decades has killed 37 people, flooded streets and stranded 80,000 people at the main airport. As more than 500 flights were cancelled at Beijing's Capital International Airport

U.S. President Barack Obama travelled to University of Colorado Hospital in Colorado to meet with the traumatised victims of the gunman James Holmes who killed 12 people and wounded 58 more in a Denver-area cinema.

Israeli police beefed up the security presence on the streets of Jerusalem as thousands of worshippers have begun to arrive in the early hours of the morning for prayers at the Noble Sanctuary known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Microsoft woke up this morning to headlines saying they had announced the first quarterly loss in its history.

10 cinema-goers are reported to have been killed and local police have said up to 30 more are injured at a cinema in the Colorado city of Aurora during a midnight showing of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Bulgarian police have released CCTV surveillance footage of a man suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing which killed at least five Israeli tourists.

Nokia's financial results announced today are a real mixed bag from the struggling Finnish smartphone company. The 2nd quarter 2012 period results show that it made an operating loss, of £638m compared to a £1bn loss in the first quarter of 2012.

Rescue operations have resumed today in the search for survivors of a ferry that capsized and sank between the east African coast and the Zanzibar shore line which killed at least 31 people, of the 250 people believed on board.