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US President George W Bush faces a showdown with Congress after it passed a new version of a bill on child health insurance he has already vetoed. The Democrat-controlled upper-house Senate passed the bill by 64-30 votes after it was approved by the House of Representatives last week. But the bill failed to muster enough votes in the lower house to override a new presidential veto. Mr Bush rejects the plan because it seeks to raise tobacco taxes. He has argued the legislation takes the programme beyond its original purpose of insuring children from low-income families. The White House has...

A pedigree cat called Cinnamon has made scientific history by becoming the first feline to have its DNA decoded. The domestic cat now joins the select club of mammals whose genome has been deciphered - including dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people. The genome map is expected to shed light on both feline and human disease. Cats get hundreds of illnesses similar to human ones, including a feline version of HIV, known as FIV, and a hereditary form of blindness. Cinnamon, a four-year-old Abyssinian cat, is descended from lab cats bred to develop retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease,...

The leader of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, has founded a new political movement in Russia. Mr Gorbachev told the founding congress of the Union of Social-Democrats that its mission was to fight against "negative tendencies" and corruption. He said it supported President Vladimir Putin's efforts to reform Russia. The new movement will not take part in general elections in December, which are expected to be won by the United Russia party, backed by Mr Putin. "We are fighting for power, but only for power over people's minds," Mr Gorbachev told the 200 delegates gathered in Moscow. Among the...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6105004.stm States: "Mr Kerry, speaking to a group of California university students on Monday, said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well." He added: "If you don't you get stuck in Iraq.""

A previously unknown Iraqi group says it has taken six hostages and will start to kill them unless their Kuwaiti employer pulls out of the country. The group, calling itself The Holders of the Black Banners, said it had seized six truck drivers - three Indians, two Kenyans and an Egyptian. The group said all who dealt with "American cowboy occupiers" would face "the fires of the Mujahideen". A statement by the group said the firm had until Wednesday evening to comply. The name of the company is not yet known. The Egyptian embassy in Baghdad confirmed to the AFP...

BBC apologises to Blair John Plunkett Thursday January 29, 2004 The BBC has offered an unreserved apology to the government over the way it handled its complaint about the Andrew Gilligan story, which Tony Blair immediately accepted, adding the government could now "draw a line" under the whole episode. The BBC acting chairman, Lord Ryder, issued the statement on behalf of the board of governors, which also confirmed the appointment of Greg Dyke's recently appointed deputy, Mark Byford, as acting director general. Lord Ryder said the Hutton report had highlighted "serious defects in the corporation's processes". "On behalf of the...

Hutton: Fleet Street's reaction Journalists from Britain's national press give their initial responses to the Hutton Inquiry report.Michael White, political editor, Guardian: Lord Hutton has been very severe on the BBC, rightly so in many respects in my view. But he has been overly generous to the government machine and some individuals within it. Any 72-year-old who pronounces the word "hotel" without an "h" is a very establishment figure. Hamish McDonnell, political editor, Scotsman: It's not quite what we expected. It's surprised a lot of people in the way the government got off the hook while the BBC has taken...

The head of BBC News has warned its journalists that they need to be more concerned about "impartiality" on contentious issues. Addressing an internal staff meeting of BBC journalists, he said: "We need to be on our mettle, particularly over the question of impartiality." The main battlefields were Europe, the urban-rural divide and the Middle East, he added. The three issues are areas where the BBC has faced particularly vociferous allegations of bias. The corporation was accused by supporters of the Countryside Alliance of consciously underplaying the importance of the recent Liberty and Livelihood March because of the urban, pro-Labour...

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned. The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy. Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections . Dame Helena Shovelton: The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest. The British Lung Foundation is...

The White House has moved quickly to defend President Bush against claims that he could have done more to prevent the 11 September attacks. The national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, says the President was briefed in August last year that Osama bin Laden planned to hijack American aircraft. But she says the information was very generalised and did not relate to the possibility of attacks on buildings. The disclosure comes as a US congressional committee prepares for a hearing into intelligence failings in the months leading up to 11 September. The FBI Director, Robert Mueller, has repeatedly said he wished...