Uruguay has become the first country in the world to provide a laptop for every child attending state primary school, the BBC reports.
President Tabaré Vázquez presented the final XO model laptops to pupils at a school in Montevideo on 13th October. Over the last two years, 362,000 pupils and 18,000 teachers have been involved in the scheme.
The “Plan Ceibal” (Education Connect) project has allowed many families access to the world of computers and the internet for …

The Liberal Democrat Dave Hodgson has won yesterday’s Mayoral Election in Bedford, he received 13,352 votes and the Conservative candidate Parvez Akhtar unfortunately got only 11,543 votes.
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries said on Twitter that “Bedford now has a LibDem Mayor committed to raising council tax”.
Of a total of six candidates hoping to become the Mayor in Bedford, four were knocked out after a first count today, and Akhtar and Hodgson continued battling it out in …

The coach of the Bosnia-Herzegovina national football team has ordered players to kiss each other on the lips in order to create a special bond between team mates, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Miroslav Ciro Blazevic – who has Portsmouth star Asmir Begovic in his squad – said: “I take two of my players and tell them, “Love him! Kiss him!” and he kisses him.”
He claimed the unorthodox morale-boosting exercise has already proven successful: Blazevic has taken …

According to Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang, three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee had objections to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to US President Barack Obama.
“VG has spoken to a number of sources who confirmed the impression that a majority of the Nobel committee, at first, had not decided to give the peace prize to Barack Obama,” the newspaper said, according to the AFP.
Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, who represented the right-wing Progress Party …

US President Barack Obama is losing domestic support – the president’s favourable rating has dropped and is now below that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his former political rival, Arutz 7 reports.
The Gallup poll shows that Obama’s approval ratings dropped from almost 80 percent in January to 56 percent in October. During that same period, Clinton’s approval rating dropped only slightly, from 65 percent to 62 percent.
US-based analysts suggested that the reversal in public …

It’s utterly nice to see the phenomenon of common sense sometimes (as in these days, you don’t see it too often): three leading supermarkets – Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose – told MPs they would reject proposals for setting a minimum price per unit of alcohol, epolitix.com reports.
They all argued that the measure would hit moderate drinkers and that education, not price, would be the best way to change consumer behaviour.
The Commons health select committee, which …

Despite Israel’s objections, the United Nations Human Rights Council have endorsed a report into Israel’s operation in Gaza, which accuses Israel of “war crimes”, and will send the so-called “Goldstone report” to more powerful UN bodies in New York for action.
Twenty-five member states backed the resolution in Friday’s vote, 11 abstained and six voted against it, Jerusalem Post reports.
The “Palestinians”, through Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, had submitted the resolution to the council, which condemned …

The Government is under pressure to explain why police have failed to charge two Libyan men in connection with the killing of WPc Yvonne Fletcher, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were told by an independent prosecutor more than two years ago that they had sufficient evidence to charge two Libyans over the killing of WPc Yvonne Fletcher. Yet the information has not been acted upon and two suspects named in a …

A two-year-old girl accused of hitting a car with a stick was investigated by police on suspicion of “vandalism”, the Daily Mail reports.
The vehicle’s owner called the police claiming the child had deliberately damaged his car. The toddler’s name and details are being held on file with Wiltshire Constabulary following the incident.
Officers say they were obliged to respond to the call-out, even though the toddler, who could barely walk, was too young to be arrested or …

A strong earthquake has shaken the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, the BBC reports.
The tremor measuring 6.4 struck off the eastern island of Java. There are no initial reports of injuries or damage.
The epicentre was located 115 miles west of the city, in the Sunda Strait, at a depth of 33.4 miles.
The earthquake struck shortly before 5pm local time (11am BST), CNN reports.
The quake prompted a mass evacuation in downtown Jakarta. There was no sign of any …

If the election were held today, only 43 per cent of American voters would back Barack Obama for President, down form 52 per cent six months ago, FoxNews reports.
Obama’s job approval rating comes in at 49 per cent this week, which is down just one percentage point from late September, but it marks a new low approval for the president — and the first time the FoxNews poll has measured his approval below 50 per …

A terrorist detonated a car bomb at a mosque next to a police station in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar today, killing 11 people in the latest bloodshed in an unrelenting wave of terror that has hit the country, FoxNews reports.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion fell on the Taliban, who have been blamed for two weeks of attacks that have killed more than 150 people across the country and appear …

A woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries following an explosion near the home of a police officer in east Belfast, the BBC reports; Irish republican terrorists are suspected of having tried to murder the police officer.
The Ambulance Service were called to Kingsdale Park in the city on Friday at 0730 BST. An Ambulance Service spokesperson said the woman suffered slight redness to her arm and ringing in her ears. Afterwards she was discharged from …

According to a new poll, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has the best job in the world – one in three respondents said they were envious of the TV star who gets paid to drive sports cars, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Jezza beat off competition from Nigella Lawson who attracted a fifth of the votes, twice as many as adventurer Bear Grylls, who was third.
Then came Simon Cowell, the Queen, Richard Branson, Cheryl Cole and US President …

Spanish communist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country will soon assume the European Union’s rotating presidency, said that he will “cooperate fully” with US President Barack Obama, which also means cooperation on Middle East peace process, where Obama has clearly taken the side of the enemies of Israel.
Zapatero met yesterday with Israel’s President Shimon Peres and expressed interest in increasing his country’s role in Israel-Arab talks, particularly once Spain takes on the EU …

Leader of the most popular party in the Netherlands and Member of Parliament, Geert Wilders, arrived in Britain today after a tribunal overturned a ban against him entering the country.
Wilders was turned away from the UK in February, when then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith considered him a threat to public security and barred his entry to the country. Wilders successfully appealed against the ban and on Tuesday this week, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal ruled there …