The headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, located across from Lafayette Park in Washington, is a limestone structure that looks almost as majestic as the Supreme Court. The similarity is no coincidence: both buildings were designed by the same architect, Cass Gilbert. Lately, however, the affinities between the court and the chamber, a lavishly financed business-advocacy organization, seem to be more ...

The Schools minister, Jim Knight, was given a public dressing down by teachers yesterday as he sought to defend large class sizes and the Government's testing regime. He was jeered by delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' conference after being asked if a class of 38 pupils for eight and nine-year-olds in a primary school was acceptable. Mr Knight replied such class sizes were "manageable" if the teacher was ...

Gordon Brown has said he will meet Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama when he visits the UK.The prime minister has faced pressure from opponents to make the commitment after recent protests in Tibet. During prime minister's questions, he also said he had spoken to China's premier on Wednesday morning and had urged an end to violence. Tory leader David Cameron congratulated Mr Brown on reaching what he called the "right ...

Diana's former butler Paul Burrell took a bloodstained engagement ring off her dead body and kept it, her inquest heard today. Michael Faux, who worked as Burrell's bodyguard, said he had been "disgusted" after hearing the revelation. He told the inquest Burrell told him he took the ring in the Paris hospital where Diana died following a car crash in August 1997. Faux said: "He said that he took it from the ...

Scores of civilians and US military staff feared dead as huge Albanian arms dump explodes Scores of people, including US military staff, are feared to have died after a Soviet-era munitions dump exploded at an Albanian army base yesterday. The blast injured more than 240 people, including many children – and the country's Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, said he believed the death toll could be considerable. The initial blast at the depot ...

After making racially-charged comments about Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., former vice presidential Democratic nominee Geraldine Ferraro stepped down Wednesday as a surrogate and member of the finance committee for the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. "She made the decision that she wants to continue talking about this and didn't want to do this in a way that would cause the campaign problems," a Clinton campaign source told ABC News. The ...

Thank you to all who have been sending in your best wishes to me for the holidays, it is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I'm unable to answer each of you personally so I hope this short message goes some way to express my thanks to all of you. Hope you all have a great holiday and thank you for your continued support. Here's to a productive 2008! All the best, Mick