Britain today: Spy 'could have died during sex game'

The private life of British code breaker Gareth Williams, who was found dead in his flat, is being investigated amid speculation that he could have died during a sex game.

There were reports today that bondage gear was removed from the 30-year-old's London apartment by police looking for clues.

Panic after pilot's error

PANIC broke out on a British Airways flight after the pilot hit a button which announced to passengers that they were about to crash into the North Sea. The blunder on the flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong triggered an automated message that told passengers to prepare for a landing on water.

Experts claim obesity is heavy burden on NHS

Health experts today warned of obesity's "overwhelming" burden on the NHS as figures showed a 785 per cent rise in weight-loss surgery.

Some doctors are "skirting around the rules" and not insisting on months of lifestyle change and pharmaceutical treatment before allowing patients to undergo surgery, specialists said. Operations carried out for the most obese people in England soared over the past five years from 480 to 4246.

HMV dressed for future

Retailer HMV is to begin selling clothes in a bid to tap into the growing crossover between music and fashion, it announced today.

HMV's 38 largest stores will carry fashion lines affiliated with music from next month, including Lee Jeans and Boxfresh.

The flagship store on Oxford Street will also carry designs by US rapper Jay-Z's Rocawear brand.

McCririck in race for eviction

The Big Brother big mouths go to battle today as rapper Coolio and racing pundit John McCririck, left, face eviction.

Voters will choose their first celebrity evictee after series winner Josie Gibson quit the show moaning that she was "claustrophobic".

Birmingham: Travellers hoping to be blessed by the Pope next month set up camp in a historic beauty spot. Around 16 families moved on to a field next to Sarehole Mill in Birmingham, telling locals they were in the city to attend an open-air mass on September 19.

Lancaster: The theft from a convent of a collection box containing money for the Pakistan floods disaster was condemned by police as "despicable". Nuns at the Ursuline Convent in Lancaster reported the theft after allowing a man and two young boys onto the premises yesterday.