Actor Gary Sinise and his band, the Lt Dan Band, will travel to Afghanistan to perform for US troops at three military bases during Thanksgiving week.
Entertainers joining Sinise on the United Service Organisations (USO) tour include model/TV host Leeann Tweeden, actress Kristy Swanson, comedian Kevin Farley, and actor Mykelti Williamson, all of whom will also entertain US troops.
Although Sinise has made several handshake tours to both Iraq and Afghanistan, this trip will mark the …

Web browser maker Opera have closed a “loophole” which allowed Chinese users to access sites banned by the Chinese Government.
At the weekend mobile users of the Opera Mini browser were asked to upgrade to a Chinese version, which no longer allows access to sites such as Facebook.
Previously traffic ran over Opera servers bypassing the so-called Great Firewall of China, making the browser popular with Chinese users.
“Let me guess what has happened here. The Chinese Government …

Apple have confirmed that UK shoppers will enjoy discounted products across their whole range on Friday, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The sale coincides with “Black Friday” in the United States, the day after Thanksgiving when stores traditionally slash prices and the Christmas shopping rush begins.
Apple’s customers received an e-mail promising a special “one day shopping event” both in-store and online, and the illustration showed a pile of Apple products, including Mac laptops and computers, iPods, keyboards …

According to the Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll, only 27% of American voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President, and a mighty 42% strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential Approval index rating of -15, which is the lowest approval index rating yet measured for Obama.
Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. That matches the lowest level of total …

According to some scientists, millions more than thought have swine flu, and one in five children are said to have the disease, many without even knowing it, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Blood tests have shown that far more people have already had swine flu during the first wave of the disease than previously thought. The findings may explain why cases have not increased as fast during the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic as in the …

The United States plans to resume arms sales to Taiwan and warned of a build-up of missiles aimed at the island by China, Reuters reports.
Washington has not struck any new arms deals with Taiwan since President Barack Obama was sworn in at the start of the year, sparking concerns in Taipei that sales had been informally suspended.
Beijing opposes all US arms sales to Taiwan and has called previous deals a sticking point in Sino-US relations.
Tuesday, …

An unusual number of severe allergic reactions to swine flu vaccinations have been recorded in Canada, where a batch of the vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline has been recalled, AFP reports.
The Canadian authorities are conducting the appropriate investigations on the vaccines and recalled a batch of vaccine from GSK.
However, WHO had not changed their recommendations regarding swine flu vaccines.
Last week, the WHO said that checks on many of the 30 deaths recorded following mass pandemic flu vaccinations …

57 per cent of Scots would be against opening negotiations on Scotland’s independence, according to a recent poll, and only 29% would say “yes” to such negotiations.
YouGov asked more than 1,100 Scottish voters how they would vote in a referendum using First Minister Alex Salmond’s favoured question which seeks the agreement of Scots for Holyrood to open negotiations on independence with Westminster, The Times reports.
Nearly six out of ten Scots, 57%, said they would answer …

British engineers have started building a car, which they hope will break the land speed record by more than 200mph – the Bloodhound, as the car’s called, is designed to travel faster than 1,000mph, The Times reports.
1,000mph is far in excess of the speed of sound and the equivalent of crossing four football pitches every second. The present record of 763mph was set in 1997 by the RAF pilot Andy Green, who will also drive …

US President Barack Obama will address the nation next Tuesday on his vision of the way forward in Afghanistan, Fox News reports.
The news comes as Obama held a “rigorous final meeting” yesterday with his Afghanistan war council and was expected to announce his revised strategy for the eight-year-old conflict just after his Thanksgiving break.
Military officials and others expect Obama to settle on a middle-ground option that would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 US forces. …

The national identity register – the controversial database at the heart of the ID card scheme – is up and running, the BBC reports.
538 people were on the database last week; all except one were UK nationals.
Greater Manchester recently became the first part of the UK where British citizens could apply for ID cards.

Sir John Chilcot opened the Iraq Inquiry by vowing that he will “get to the heart of what happened” before and during the war and “will not shy away” from criticising anyone who made mistakes, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The inquiry chairman said he and his team would be “thorough, rigorous, fair and frank” throughout the long-awaited hearing, which aims to “piece together from the evidence” what went right and what went wrong – and why.
He …

Almost a third of schools are not giving pupils a good education, the Independent reports.
There remained a “stubborn core” of inadequate and satisfactory teaching in England’s schools which was failing to challenge and inspire pupils, Ofsted’s annual report found.
Ofsted Chief Inspector Christine Gilbert said that, while she was encouraged by the improvements which had been made in schools and children’s services this year, there was still much that was “mediocre or worse”.
In her fourth annual …

Every British household will sink a further £228 each into Lloyds Banking Group as part of the lender’s record rights issue to raise £13.5 billion, The Times reports.
As part of the fundraising, the Government will today plough another £5.7 billion of taxpayers’ money into the bank that have already received £17 billion in state money, giving Britons a 43 per cent stake in the bank.
Today, Lloyds are demanding another £13.5 billion from their nearly three …

Conservative leader David Cameron’s “philosopher king” Philip Blond is to launch an outspoken attack on “cartel-driven capitalism” and the “loads of money” 1980s ideology, the Daily Mail reports.
Blond, who has become one of the Conservatives’ most influential figures, will appear alongside Cameron to argue that Britain’s fractured society must be rebuilt around community values. Blond, who has been dubbed the “Red Tory” for his part in advising Cameron to put tackling poverty at the heart …

An unnamed Russian billionaire has bought the Mercedes 770 K that once belong to the nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
The car was once part of a fleet used by Hitler in his travels across Europe during the Second World War, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The midnight blue car was locked away in a collector’s garage in Bielefeld along with seven other vehicles used by Nazi leaders.
Michael Fröhlich, a Düsseldorf car dealer, said he brokered the deal for …