Geoff Meade, Defence correspondent Scores of medals recognising British troops’ bravery in Afghanistan are to be announced today.   Warrant Officer Gary O’Donnell died defusing a roadside bomb in Helmand One of the highest awards is to be made posthumously – a second George Medal goes to Warrant Officer Gary O’Donnell. The father-of-four died defusing [...]

General Motors, the US vehicle manufacturer, has said its auditors have raised “substantial doubt” about its ability to survive bankrupty unless it stems massive losses. The warning underlined the grim situation for the company as it continues to seek $30bn in government aid amid a slump in sales and a global financial crisis. The company [...]

An eight-year delay putting new helicopters into service has cost scores of millions of pounds and may have put lives at risk, a report has concluded.   A Chinook Mk3 at Boscombe Down. Picture: QinetiQ The Ministry of Defencehas been heavily criticised for failing to bring eight new SAS helicopters into service. The twin-rotor Chinook [...]

China faces “unprecedented” challenges as a result of the global economic downturn, but will ride out the storm and still manage to achieve at least eight per cent growth, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, has said. In his annual state of the union-style address to China’s parliament, Wen said that with the right policies, he [...]

A film about one of Britain’s most notorious criminals has been condemned by prison officers for glorifying violence.   Charles Bronson – as depicted in movie Bronson tells the story of Charles Bronson, the man described as the country’s most dangerous prisoner. The film is released next week, two days after Bronson goes before the [...]

Pakistani authorities have arrested up to 100 people as they search for at least 12 armed men behind an attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team. Tuesday’s assault in the eastern city of Lahore left eight Pakistanis, including six policemen, dead and several Sri Lankan cricketers wounded. A reward of $125,000 has been [...]

Terminally-ill Jade Goody is in agony and returns to hospital to have an operation to help relieve the pain, her publicist Max Clifford has said.   Jade Goody leaving the Royal Marsden hospital last month The 27-year-old, who has just weeks to live after her cervical cancer spread to her liver, groin and bowel, is [...]

The United States is set to pledge $900m for the Palestinians at a donors’ conference in Egypt, but only a third of that will go towards reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and none of the money will go to Hamas, who rule the territory. Robert Wood, a spokesman for the US state department, said the [...]

Terminally ill Jade Goody has sobbed: “I’ll be dying in a month, leave me alone,” during a foul-mouthed bust-up with her neighbour.   Jade Goody shouts out, next to Jack Tweed and her friend The reality TV star clashed with man as she went to get professional help for “awful” hallucinations sparked by her medication. [...]

Barack Obama, the US president, has announced that US combat forces will leave Iraq by August 2010. The plan would pull combat troops out of Iraq 19 months after Obama took office in January this year, slightly longer than the 16 months he promised while on the campaign trail in 2008. “Let me say this [...]