Britain today: Troops killed during soldier rescue mission

Two British soldiers have been shot dead in Afghanistan as they tried to rescue a comrade.

The servicemen, one from The Royal Dragoon Guards and the other from 1st Battalion Scots Guards, were killed yesterday in the Lashkar Gah district of Helmand province.

Womb cancer level soars

THE number of women suffering womb cancer is at its highest for more than 30 years - with obesity playing a key role, figures showed today.

Rates per 100,000 women have shot up, from 13 per 100,000 in 1975 to more than 19 per 100,000. More than 7530 women develop the disease every year in the UK.

140 million care grants 'not value for money'

A GRANT system to provide vulnerable people with essential items such as beds and cookers is not delivering value for money, Whitehall's spending watchdog said today.

The National Audit Office (NAO) found that one-tenth of the 141 million annual community care grant budget - 14m - could be saved through economies of scale if items were supplied through a centralised contract instead of bought locally and warned of insufficient checks on fraud and overclaiming.

Cameron calls for trade

BRITISH foreign policy must be more focused on winning trade and investment deals, David Cameron demanded today amid suggestions that the government could start to recruit corporate leaders as diplomats.

The Prime Minister announced that he was appointing a civil servant with expertise in business to head the Foreign Office.

Griffin's date with Queen

BNP leader Nick Griffin will attend a Buckingham Palace garden party today in defiance of left-wing activists.

The far-right politician is expected to be among the 8000 guests at the event, which will be hosted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Gloucestershire: The ashes of a cat which featured in the titles of TV soap Coronation Street for a decade were expected to fetch up to 150 at auction today. Frisky was seen at the starting sequence of more than 1000 episodes.

Fermanagh: A champion wolf whistler has been crowned in Northern Ireland. The rural town of Irvinestown witnessed the bid to find the planet's finest exponent of the traditional builders' greeting. Around a dozen hopefuls showed their appreciation of a parade of passing beauties. Local butcher Stephen Miller won.