Brawn GP Formula One team boss Ross Brawn says that the world’s major car manufacturers will return to Formula 1 in the future, autosport.com reports.
Formula 1 lost three car makers over the last 12 months following the exits of Honda, BMW and now Toyota, who announced last week that they were pulling out of the sport with immediate effect. Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone have also revealed they will quit the sport at the end of next …

Lloyds Banking Group are cutting 5,000 jobs by the end of next year, the BBC reports.
As some of these cuts refer to temporary staff, the bank said the end result would be a permanent loss of 2,600 jobs in the UK.
A spokesman said this would reduce overlap between divisions following the troubled merger between Lloyds and HBOS last year. Most of the cuts will come in its operations unit, which includes IT, collections and payment services.

The White House and military officials are leaning toward sending more than 30,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan, Fox News reports.
Officials said that US President Barack Obama will not announce his decision until after he returns from his upcoming trip to Asia and stressed that no final decision has been made, even in private.
But the plan under serious consideration would split the difference between troop requests made by General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander …

One of the most well-known NBA basketball players, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has been known for his stamina and fitness, has revealed that he has leukaemia.
62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar learnt last December that he has chronic myeloid leukaemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow in which the body produces cancerous white blood cells, the New York Times reports. It’s a relatively slow-growing cancer that may take years to progress.
“It’s been almost a year now since I’ve …

People are more optimistic about the economy than at any time for the past 18 months, according to a Populus poll for The Times today.
Poll’s findings come as the best October high street sales for seven years have fuelled hopes that a pre-Christmas surge in spending could confirm the country’s emergence from recession. Sales rose at an annual rate of 3.8 per cent last month, up from 2.8 per cent in September. Overall sales values rose …

Pushchair maker Maclaren recalled about one million folding pushchairs following reports that 12 children had fingertips amputated after getting caught in the hinges, the Daily Mail reports.
All Maclaren single and double umbrella pushchairs, including the popular Volo and Techno models, were voluntarily recalled by the firm in the US. The American Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said customers should stop using the pushchairs immediately.
The affected models are manufactured in China and are distributed worldwide. They include the …

The two Koreas briefly exchanged naval fire along their disputed western sea border earlier today, with a North Korean ship suffering heavy damage before retreating, The Times reports.
There were no South Korean casualties, the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, and it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the North Korean side.
The North’s patrol boat crossed the disputed western sea border early this morning, drawing warning shots from a South Korean …

Every phone call, text message, e-mail and website visit made by private citizens is to be stored for a year and will be available for monitoring by government bodies, the Daily Telegraph reports.
All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer’s personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the websites they have visited.

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama held a private meeting on yesterday, during which the two discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as stalled Middle East peace talks, and Obama reaffirmed America’s “strong commitment” to Israel’s security.
“The President reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel’s security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues,” said a statement issued by the White House after the one hour and forty minute closed-door session …

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has threatened Colombia with a war and told his troops to be prepared for an armed conflict, the Colombian Government said they would appeal to international bodies.
On his weekly Sunday television show, Chavez ordered the Venezuelan military to begin preparations for a war with the neighbouring country, warning of a conspiracy between Colombia and the United States to attack Venezuela, CNN reports.
On Sunday Colombia’s Government responded, saying they have not undertaken …

Foreign Secretary David Miliband rejected the chance to become European Union’s foreign minister, the BBC reports.
Miliband told the head of the European socialists’ group he was not interested in the job, and friends have indicated that he “sees his future in British politics”.
BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson said Miliband had rejected the lure of high office in Brussels for the uncertainty of life in a Labour…