00:02
Education: Bobbing and dodging - but no shopping: City centre stores in Stoke-on-Trent have joined a new scheme to tackle truancy. Fran Abrams reports00:02
Backing the arts is good for business: Company logos on tutus? Not yet, but Helen Hague reports that sponsors demand a return00:02
Sporting Digest: Ice Skating00:02
Britain still trailing in higher education stakes: Despite an expanded student population, numbers are half of those in the US00:02
Leading Article: Elitism fails the test of modern education00:02
The sheep and the goats: a far from definitive guide00:02
Bull kills farmer00:02
NatWest Mondex card brings cashless society a step closer00:02
REVIEW / The unnecessarily messy business of the truth00:02
Tennis: Rich Chang cashes in again: Sampras in business at Munich money dispenser00:02
Gearing at Blick up on acquisition00:02
Inside File: Advice to the Prince about Islam00:02
AEG white goods unit raises pounds 400m: 6,000 jobs to be axed in deal with Electrolux00:02
Pounds 5 TV licence00:02
Chess: Logical route to problem solving00:02
Leading Article: Arms and the Iron Lady00:02
View from City Road: Life insurers must take the blame00:02
Committee told of organised race attacks00:02
Jackson accused by sister of abusing boys for years00:02
Short-lived bang begins extension to Jubilee Line: Christian Wolmar sees John Major launch the 10-mile London Underground project designed to 'bring prosperity to sleeping Dogs'00:02
Plankton source of acid rain00:02
Football / European Round-Up: Wonder Bremen00:02
Vision for Hubble, hope for Nasa: A successful space mission has staved off the demise of the US agency, says Susan Watts00:02
Italians rush to share in privatisation: Second bank sell-off brought forward after first offer is massive success00:02
Sporting Digest: Football00:02
TB rises sharply in young women00:02
Pembroke: Harvey-Jones goes gladly back to school00:02
Sports Letter: Penalising violence00:02
Pounds 300 ski death fine00:02
Gorbachev offers shared rewards for bold investors: Former Soviet leader presses case for taking a risk in Russia00:02
Sporting Digest: Rugby Union00:02
Company News in Brief00:02
Balladur to allow MPs say on Gatt: Confidence vote indicates French optimism00:02
Here Today00:02
Japan's shadow shogun nurses grievance in silence: Ichiro Ozawa (right) is the man behind the government, but he's not talking to journalists. Terry McCarthy reports from Tokyo00:02
Acquisitions help BTP profits rise 29%00:02
Stepfather jailed for life for murder of girl, three00:02
Law Report: Consent order unaffected by Act: C v C: Family Division (Mrs Justice Booth), 7 December 199300:02
NFC launches pounds 263m call on results up 17%: Rights issue part of plan to focus on logistics and moving services00:02
E Midlands lifts dividend 18.9%: Payout maintains industry's strong dividend performance00:02
View from City Road: Bond markets may be misleading equities00:02
ROCK / Gig Guide00:02
Gold as insurance00:02
Art Market: Paintings kept in icy church fetch pounds 272,50000:02
Court Circular00:02
Many student loans are not being repaid: MPs see bleak prospects for scheme00:02
Racing: Six on Saturday00:02
Letter: Shorter working week00:02
Football: Infectious rottenness of racism00:02
Sporting Digest: Basketball00:02
Sports Letter: Defending the flag00:02
Bottom Line: Greenalls a good read00:02
Ice Skating: Gorbenko under pressure00:02
Heath's arrival signals Baghdad releases00:02
Angola ceasefire agreed00:02
The Scott Inquiry: Determined mix of the Madonna and the metal00:02
Parliamentary Questions - Written Replies00:02
Cult prosecuted over safety of commune: Scientologists deny misleading council on 'overcrowding'00:02
Last team of huskies is frozen out of Antarctica00:02
People adjust to Hong Kong's daily ups and downs: Teresa Poole finds that people riding the hillside escalator are confused about the row with China00:02
Dear Mr Blobby: The Independent's arts writer pens a love letter to the ultimate celebrity: a walking, occasionally talking, living blancmange00:02
Rugby League: Crusaders open to offers00:02
Security guard convicted of pounds 1m Heathrow theft: Father-of-two spent four years on the run after developing a taste for high living. Martin Whitfield reports00:02
Rapist gets seven life sentences: Nine women suffered 'appalling cruelty'00:02
Delors' New Deal on jobs rejected00:02
Athens bus strike00:02
'Pensions abuse will cost millions': SIB to publish study showing scale of ill-advised transfers before Christmas00:02
Boyfriend beat sex client00:02
Governor plays down base-rate cut: Shares and bonds soar on hopes of reduction despite Eddie George's caution00:02
Golf: Ryder choices reduced to two00:02
Neo-Nazi killer jailed for life00:02
Sporting Digest: Tennis00:02
Football: Wallace maintains Leeds' momentum00:02
Market Report: Auction and Gatt hopes put gilt on gingerbread00:02
Water find raises hopes for nuclear waste site: Industry believes ancient rain shows repository will be safe. Tom Wilkie reports00:02
Cannabis bonfire00:02
Sporting Digest: Golf00:02
Lover loses his head00:02
Peace hopes are not dying, but can be killed00:02
Letter: Critical perspective of Italy's left00:02
Sporting Digest: Baseball00:02
The Scott Inquiry: Thatcher entangled in icy battle of wills: Former prime minister put on spot by resolute lawyer, writes David Connett00:02
Silly Questions: Gusted of Tunbridge Wells00:02
Racing: Prospects darkening for the Prince00:02
BEST-SELLERS / Top 10 causes of household fires00:02
European Football: Norwich produce stirring exit line: Bergkamp supplies the coup de grace but Walker's depleted expeditionary force are treated to a San Siro ovation00:02
Solicitors break into higher courts00:02
The Scott Inquiry: Chief inquisitor shows deadly style: Presiley Baxendale QC, a barrister known for demolishing witnesses00:02
De Klerk seeks the royal seal of approval: Return to Commonwealth on agenda as Queen meets SA leader for the first time in 32 years00:02
ROCK / Riffs: The legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb on 'The Things We've Handed Down' by Marc Cohn00:02
Russia-EU deal hits problems: Moscow to settle for 'declaration of intent' to forge closer ties00:02
Football: Griffiths proves no angel for caretaker Gabriel00:02
Whip crack a day: There's more to circus skills than big boots and red noses. Emma Cook goes to north London to learn the essential art of cattle control00:02
Car bomb in Baghdad00:02
Algerian robbers murder Briton00:02
Dilemma: Should Dr Jekyll be invited to the party?00:02
Pit to reopen00:02
Lectures00:02
Kazakh parliament dissolved00:02
Winnie Mandela triumphant00:02
Letter: Where the Government fails the brightest and best00:02
Letter: Swindled by the Budget00:02
Football: Venables calls for privacy in inquest00:02
Sailing: Smith puts in a sprint towards tight finish: Leader of the Whitbread pack accelerates as Butterworth goes west for the wind00:02
ROCK / The revenge of the talking head: CD-Rom: one day all records will be made this way. And Peter Gabriel is already off the mark with Xplora 1. John May talks to him00:02
Manager arrested in National Trust marketing inquiry00:02
Sports Letter: Leadership sadly lacking00:02
Football: Ferdinand off as QPR hit a storm00:02
Is he cut out for kingship?: Charles's problem is not the Church, but his own mother's success, says Richard Tomlinson00:02
Right of reply: Beryl Vertue, producer of A Woman's Guide to Adultery00:02
Birthdays00:02
Gruelling question time for Thatcher over Iraq00:02
Clinton warns of N Korea crisis00:02
Education: Literacy depends on how you read the figures: Is it a real decline in standards or just a wobble? Judith Judd discovers differing views on research into reading and writing00:02
Leading Article: Nato's dangerous psychological block00:02
Affair with wealthy wife ended in marina suicide00:02
Education: Listen with mother while she learns: Diana Hinds reports on a scheme for young parents offering lessons in English, maths and basic child-rearing skills00:02
Milk scheme challenged: Brussels questions transfer of MMB assets and marketing role00:02
Night Out: John Wayne in Wonderland: William Hartston at the Lewis Carroll Society's annual meeting00:02
Football: Teale's unhappy moment for Villa00:02
Letter: Protesters who saw the wood and the trees00:02
German spy case00:02
Sporting Digest: Boxing00:02
Extremists surrender00:02
Viewers wanted to know victim's fate in advance00:02
Diary00:02
Band doesn't play on00:02
Motor Racing: Ecclestone speaks up for Senna00:02
Tomorrow, for me, is a luxury: Lesley Elliott, a young mother of three, is dying. She describes how she helps her family to cope00:02
Today's Number: 4.600:02
Sporting Digest: Skiing00:02
Bishops warn against 'verbal terrorism': Ulster politicians are told to temper their language. David McKittrick reports00:02
Anniversaries00:02
Rugby League: Books for Christmas: Heretics roast old chestnuts: Dave Hadfield finds old battles still being disputed among the pages of this year's rugby league reading00:02
Hospital accused of losing pounds 300,000: Correction00:02
Cricket: Lathwell celebrates his first steps on the comeback trail: Comfortable victory for England's second string despite some stirring all-round resistance from an itinerant Barbados fast bowler00:02
Friends Provident seeks pounds 50m for ethical trust00:02
GLOSSARY / In bed with the campaign for complexity00:02
The house that Danny built: Danny Rampling, the DJ who fathered house, can sure play records. But can he make them? By Alix Sharkey00:02
Robot finds mysterious relics in pyramid00:02
Fashion: Snow? Who needs it: You can ski, climb or sail in Ralph Lauren's sportswear, but most of it won't get nearer to the piste than Bond Street or Madison Avenue, says Marion Hume00:02
Motorists die as rain and gales lash Britain00:02
Pay deal rejected00:02
Bottom Line: NFC gears up to join the logistics revolution00:02
Train gunman 'driven by race hate': Jamaican-born black man arrested after shooting 21 passengers in a white commuter train, killing four00:02
Six die in Paris blaze00:02
Front benches back Sunday hours change00:02
Allied Irish Banks raises pounds 55m in move to double market share (CORRECTED)00:02
Letter: Social change in India00:02
Obituary: Winifred Shand00:02
Communists cash in on reform row: Old guard sure they can undermine Yeltsin in Sunday's polls00:02
Clinton signs for Nafta00:02
Beckon down. Point. Shudder: Carlyle did it. Dickens did it. Wilde, too. And on Tuesday night Peter Ackroyd did it at the V & A. Kevin Jackson, who saw him do it, considers the art of the literary lecture00:02
Saunders' challenge00:02
Shake-up in training for doctors promised: Changes will lead to more patients being seen by fully trained staff00:02
How Giovanni can win over the British00:02
'Vacuum' fear as Israelis get ready to leave: Doubts over security threaten deadline00:02
Massacre survivors hope for justice: An SS officer is blamed for the deaths of 80 soldiers near Dunkirk in May 1940 but Germany has declined to prosecute him. Stephen Ward reports00:02
MPs open door for shopping on Sunday: Larger stores face restriction on hours as Commons opts for partial deregulation00:02
Fans convicted00:02
Letter: Protesters who saw the wood and the trees00:02
The Independent/Shart School Team Quiz: Your final set of prize questions00:02
Inside Parliament: Mask of anarchy seen over Tesco checkout: Passions rise as Commons discusses Sunday trading options - Tory backbencher denies amendment meant to confuse issue00:02
Many local roads 'are falling apart'00:02
Sporting Digest: Squash00:02
Countryside property group bounces back into the black: Big increase in housing association work forecast00:02
Russian mafias carve up drugs trade: The Bosnian war has forced crime clans to find new Balkan routes for smuggling heroin into Europe, writes Leonard Doyle00:02
Sporting Digest: Pools News00:02
Murder charge00:02
Letter: Where the Government fails the brightest and best00:02
Lloyd's may have considered pounds 2bn offer: Assurances were given to members at October meeting - Loan facility was rejected by internal panel00:02
Bottom Line: Be shy and retiring00:02
Hollywood and Europe in showdown over films: Money talks louder than culture in an artistic dispute, writes Sarah Lambert00:02
Education: The high cost of learning: Vice-chancellors are backing privately funded student loans, says Liz Heron00:02
Minister denies rigging funding: Councils 'still have local democracy'00:02
Sports Letter: The automaton era00:02
THEATRE / Fogbound: Robert Hanks reviews novelist Fay Weldon's adaptation of Jane Eyre00:02
Bridge: A good deal of injustice00:02
The Daily Poem00:02
Ageing country fans mourn 'day the music died'00:02
Letter: Positive side of negative equity00:02
Asprey spreads to pounds 12.2m: Attallah sees lower margins as the price for a broader base00:02
Private firm to reopen pit00:02
Obituary: Professor Thaddeus Mann00:02
Former envoy attacks Patten's democracy plan00:02
ALBUMS / Now, this won't hurt at all00:02
Zappa: five memories00:02
REVIEW / Back] Back]: The Bible - Clapham Grand00:02
Two jets in near miss incident00:02
TV reconstruction of violence attacked: Broadcasting watchdog expresses doubts after survey finds distaste for 'entertaining' crime dramatisations. Maggie Brown reports00:02
MUSIC / Jingo bells: Nicholas Williams welcomes a season of nationalism without the politics00:02
Delors calls for 15 million new jobs00:02
Kickback scandal rocks football00:02
US women defend abortion clinics: Supreme Court asked to help end harassment of doctors00:02
BOOK REVIEW / Fascinating theories of laughter and forgetting: World changes in divorce patterns - William J Goode: Yale, pounds 27.5000:02
More people giving up satellite dishes00:02
Sales surge sees Sage up 9% to pounds 9.7m00:02
Letter: Which tradition?00:02
Honecker gets pacemaker00:02
View from City Road: The not-so-flexible friend00:02
Whipping row over Sunday trading00:02
Briton shot dead in Algeria00:02
Scarlet and black: ventriloquist on the edge: Max is no dummy and his mouthpiece takes risks in their cabaret act. James Rampton talked to them00:02
Business and City in Brief00:02
And What's More . . .00:02
Ivory Coast dispute00:02
Rugby Union: Hastings' captaincy rewarded00:02
View from City Road: Murdoch will find another way00:02
Labour set to exploit Budget tax increases00:02
Royal engagements00:02
Profit warning knocks shares in Courtaulds00:02
British troops in Polish exercise