A MAN named by sources as serving Labour MP Eric Joyce has been arrested on suspicion of assault following a disturbance at the Palace of Westminster.

THE idea of Scotland playing a leading role in the space sector may sound to some like the stuff of science fiction, but it’s far from it.

THIS week Alex Salmond made a speech in Scotland. That came as quite a surprise. It was the kind of speech I suspect he rather enjoys giving.

Amid the continued stand-offs with Iran and the Palestinians, Israel’s other struggle – that between secular and religious Jews – is heating up as secularists and their backers take a more muscular approach to defining the character of Israeli society.

Syria’s embattled leader, Bashar al-Assad, appears to even be losing one of his last bastions of reliable support: the Druse Arab community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

A PACKED train slammed into the end of the line in Buenos Aires’ busy Once station yesterday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds of morning commuters in Argentina’s worst train accident in decades.

THE United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran’s suspected secret atomic weapons programme failed.

Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has brushed off a report that WikiLeaks is to out him as a secret US government informant in a campaign to prevent the whistleblowing website’s founder, Julian Assange, being extradited to the United States.

RUSSIA has warned an attack on Iran would be disastrous and played down the failure of the UN mission, saying there was still a chance of talks.

THE selection of a singer of part African descent to perform in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has sparked a race row in Ukraine.

France has abolished the title term “Mademoiselle” from all official documents because it suggests a woman is “available”.

The latest news from around the globe

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s election rival has wished him a speedy recovery while allies closed ranks behind the “comandante” whose announcement of new surgery revived doubts over his future.

Ethiopian and Somali troops have captured a key Islamist militant stronghold in Somalia.

TV PRESENTER Lorraine Kelly said yesterday that she suffered a “real fright” when she fell from a horse, which then stamped on her leg.

THE owners of a five-star hotel that closed suddenly have called in another hotel chain to help out brides let down just weeks before their weddings.

A MUSIC teacher faces losing her job after she drove on a motorway when she was more than four times the legal drink drive limit with two girls in the back of the car.

SCOTTISH researchers are to lead a major UK study into one of the world’s most devastating but least understood killer infections.

SCOTLAND’S main train operator is seeking a new supplier to deliver 48 million litres of diesel a year – by road.

The £31 million ScotRail contract, involving some 1,500 tanker movements, comes despite ministers urging further reductions in the environmental impact of railways.

FOOD scientists are to discuss the future of what goes on our plates at a festival in Edinburgh.