Israeli troops fighting in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip suffered their first setback, when three soldiers were killed and 20 more wounded by 'friendly fire' from an Israeli tank

The UK's ban on short selling of financial stocks will not be extended beyond January 16, the Financial Services Authority said, but investors will continue to be required to disclose short positions

A delegation led by Martin Riman, the Czech Republic's industry minister, flew to Kiev for talks with Ukrainian officials, while another EU team of experts was due to confer with executives of Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Pakistan was whipping up war hysteria, and that the Mumbai attacks must have had support from some of its nuclear-armed neighbour's official agencies

China's economy will probably grow by about 8% this year, the central bank's research bureau forecast on Tuesday, the latest in a string of relatively optimistic estimates

Barack Obama started pushing his economic stimulus plan on Capitol Hill, including about $300bn of tax cuts that could soften Republican resistance

The Tory leader plans to cut the size of the state and fund tax breaks for savers, drawing sharp economic dividing lines with Labour ahead of the next election

Investment manager Bernard Madoff appeared for a bail hearing in a New York court, as a congressional committee convened to examine regulatory failures in the run-up to the scanda

The Indian government has signed an agreement to buy eight long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft in its largest ever acquisition of military hardware from the US

The German government's second fiscal stimulus could total €50bn, making it far more ambitious than expected just a week ago, senior officials suggested if leaders of chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition can hammer out agreement on the package