The latest deployment of British troops does nothing to dampen doubts over the West's long-term commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son shrugged off Equatorial Guinea's attempts to have him arrested for his alleged role in a plot to overthrow the country, according to a newspaper report on Saturday. The West African country has issued a warrant for Mark Thatcher's arrest for his role in helping to finance and organise a coup plot.

England fast bowling duo Sajid Mahmood and Simon Jones are among several Test cricketers set for on-screen roles in a new Bollywood movie about cricket. Victory is a film that charts the story of a boy fulfilling his dream of playing for India. Shooting will start this month in Australia.

After four years, eight months and 11 days, after the deaths of unknown thousands of Iraqis, after 174 British fallen, and billions expended on reconstruction and the cost of a military mission, on Sunday the British mission in Iraq takes a large step towards being wound up.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe launched a new attack on Britain on Friday after it failed to prevent him being invited to a European Union summit next month, telling London to stop interfering in its former colony. He also thanked fellow African heads of state for their diplomatic support in what he called an "onslaught" by Britain and its allies.

A helicopter pilot described on Friday how he had been forced to drink his own urine and eat leaves to survive for eight days and nights after crashing in the depths of the Kenyan jungle. Solomon Nyanjui broke several ribs when his helicopter crashed on November 15 in the Mount Kenya region.

"When you're trying to get into the US or travelling about the country by air, one of the battery of security measures in force is called 'secondary security screening selection' or SSSS. This is usually a random selection, we are told," writes Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein.

There's no question that great athletes take their sports to the level of art. But as the French host the Rugby World Cup, they're pushing that concept a step further by bringing rugby into an art museum. It's a genteel Parisian touch to a sport more often associated with muscle, body-crunching tackles.

Princes William and Harry were to lead tributes on Friday to their late mother, Princess Diana, on the 10th anniversary of her death at a service attended by senior royals and Diana's friends and family. William and Harry, who were just 15 and 12 when their mother died following a high-speed car crash in Paris, have spent months arranging the service.