London - Economic growth in Britain slowed considerably to 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year, as the housing market and consumer spending were affected by the credit crunch.

London, July 25 : A self-employed painter and decorator says he is ‘dumbfounded’ after being slapped with a 30 pound fine for smoking a cigarette in his own van.

Gordon Williams, from Llanafan, near Aberystwyth, Mid Wales, was on the way to buy tea bags for his wife when he was slapped with a fixed penalty fine.

The 58-year-old was handed a 30-pound on-the-spot fine under new anti-smoking laws that ban lighting-up in the work place.

However, Williams, a grandfather, hit out claiming the fine was unjustified and unfair because his van is a private vehicle.

London, July 25: After losing his bike recently, UK Opposition leader David Cameron said in a lighter vein that he would support invoking the Shariat Law for bike thefts.

According to The Mirror, after failing to trace his lost bike, the Tory boss jokingly said: "I am thinking of introducing Shariat law for bike theft. I will consult the Mayor of London."

London - Britain's ruling Labour Party suffered a stinging defeat in a by-election in the Scottish city of Glasgow which analysts believe is a further severe political setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) unseated Labour in the constituency of Glasgow East, which had been a Labour stronghold for decades.

The SNP snatched power from Labour at regional level in Scotland last year, after 40 years of Labour domination.

The swing from Labour to the SNP in Glasgow East, a deprived area of Scotland's second city, was 22 per cent. Turnout was 42 per cent.

London, July 25 : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has supported the new “hot pursuit” policy to tackle terrorism, by not indulging into dialogue with those militants who do not want to lay down arms.

He said Pakistan would engage in dialogue only with those people who renounced violence but would not talk to those who used the language of arms.

London, July 25 : Seismic imaging has revealed that magma rising under the surface of a volcano may not be mushroom-shaped.

According to a report in New Scientist, the plumes of hot magma that fuel the volcanism of “hotspots” like Hawaii and Iceland have long been thought to be efficient conduits of Earth’s fiery contents.

Yet, it seems they can be rather lacklustre on their way to the surface.

Generally, the plumes of hot magma that rise through the mantle are pictured as mushroom-shaped; with a thin stalk feeding a bulbous head, or hotspot, beneath the crust.

However, seismic imaging in Iceland has revealed a patchy structure without a stalk, leading some researchers to suggest there are no plumes at all.