The Observer: Main section

EU leaders plan meeting of major powers next month to 'rebuild the international financial system'

Peter Mandelson buries threat of coup against Brown taking on new position after approval from Blair

Loss of pensions and benefits contracts could cause many remaining branches to go bust

Sixteen staff investigated after inmate's death in Northern Ireland's highest-security prison

Heston Blumenthal's magnum opus contains recipes to confirm him as 'the king of molecular gastronomy'

What happened when Laura Potter attempted to cook a dish from Heston Blumenthal's cookbook

Royal Institute of Oil Painters exhibition piece to illustrate London life - without bendy buses

Experts warn rubbish fumes could spark autism, asthma, heart disease and depression

Former commissioner of Scotland Yard offers warning as authorities meet to appoint new chief

Peter Mandelson talks of the 'lessons' he and Gordon Brown have learnt over two difficult decades

A song about Bin Laden and two sensitive Nazis top the bill at a packed Secret Policeman's Ball. By David Smith

The BBC is to announce a hard-hitting new series about the impact of the invasion, starring James Nesbitt. By Vanessa Thorpe

Former US footballer found guilty of robbery and kidnapping on anniversary of murder acquittal

Tweed supplier inundated with orders from around the world following Paris fashion show

Flows in Severn and Mersey in summer could drop by up to 80 per cent by 2050, experts warn

More news from around the UK

Increase in acidity of grapes makes award-winning wine as owner claims Cornwall 'can match Champagne'

Proposed curb on discounting will also hit poorest customers hardest, think-tank study reveals

Majority of people do not know about the carcinogenic properties of processed meat and alcohol

Pizza Hut and KFC plan to post nutrition information on menus in their US restaurants

London 'Keep the Promise' march draws pledge from Gordon Brown to eradicate problem by 2020

Barbara Ellen: As a skint Yuletide approaches, are we to drone on about the evils of consumerism?

Artefact from holy island of Bardsey currently in storage at Merseyside Maritime Museum

Great expeditions of the past hold lessons for the future, says Nasa commissioned study

Glamour of luxury racing event tarnished as Lamborghini and Porsche 911 collide

Once famous for shipyards and steel, Barrow rated as most working-class place in UK in new survey

First paramilitary to come out of the closet reflects on feigning homophobia and intolerance

Six computers face interrogation to answer question of whether machines can think

Elite detectives investigate fatal fall of businessman linked to MI6, CIA, KGB and Mossad

Financial, religious, cultural and sporting figures included in new British black 'Powerlist'

Kwame Kwei-Armah: I didn't want this list to be about celebrity. When we talked about power, we meant real power

The reshuffle thrusts Mandelson back into the limelight but takes Miliband out of the picture

Gaby Hinsliff examines the prospects for two rising stars in the Brown administration

The benefits and risks of genetically modified food are being discussed again, but opinion remains divided

GM crops have considerable potential to help the planet, and future benefits could be even better

Sam Mendes recalls a humble man who worked prodigiously and without fuss - and cooked a first-class lunch

Henry Porter: Ian Blair's besetting sin was to forget he was a servant of the public, not our master

Tim Lewis: Still, when the tirade was in full swing, it was hard not to feel some nostalgia for the good old days of English football

Chris Riddell on David Cameron's response to the global financial crisis

Editorial: The current market turbulence does not distinguish between brands of capitalism

Editorial: Hilary Benn's support for crop gene manipulation could prove invaluable

Brian Morton: Local authorities' disgraceful habit of avoiding paying for appropriate care is beyond satire

Andrew Rawnsley: This is surely the wildest plot twist in the already convoluted history of New Labour

Robert Yates: Twittering liberals fear the chef's new show is 'patronising'. They're the ones who are at fault

This week's corrections

I'm entirely in favour of presumed consent with easy opt-out for organ donation, but am totally against allowing bereaved relatives to refuse organ donation if the dead person has signed a donor card and/or is on the organ donor register

Marc Quinn's sculpture of the model in a yoga position has joined the British Museum for three months

Letters, the big issue:Business Editor Ruth Sunderland is correct in noting that the lightness of regulatory touch for the financial markets began with Thatcher and Reagan

Patricia Williams: Sarah Palin speaks to us in a wipe-your-nose and sit-up-straight inflection that is quite Orwellian

Catherine Bennett: Debbie Purdy says the present legislation on assisted suicide is cowardly. She's wrong - it's barbaric

Nick Cohen: George Osborne and David Cameron's condemnations lacked all conviction and their embarrassed faces proved it

'Suitcase girl' turned Playboy pin-up testifies about moment that ignited political scandal

Economic collapse and the destruction of farms mean that millions face starvation

Eight years after Florida favoured George W Bush, Obama blazes ahead in polls

Sarah Silverman says she will 'blame the Jews' if McCain wins Florida, in YoutTube war of words

The stand-off with US warships could make Somalia's well organised criminals even more dangerous

Pirate network raking in £10m to £17m per year upheld by locals as eco-warriors and nationalists

Waters near Naples have seen plant and fish biodiversity drop by 30% due to 'ocean acidification'

Yak milk said to be considerably higher in calcium, vitamin A and amino acids than ordinary milk

Two of Hollywood's most famous producers, Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin, have fallen out

Order members attack 'highly distorted' portrayal of youngster groomed as sacrificial lamb

Jewish extremists are stepping up attacks on West Bank Palestinians and peace activists

Iceland on brink of collapse as inflation and interest rates soar, while the krona is in freefall

Leader's wife also dies during attempts to capture head of cell responsible for mosque attacks

This week's winners and losers

Victoria Coren: Women worry that spectacles will make them look learned, blue-stocking, sexless or intimidatingly smart. In a trice, Palin whipped that stigma away

They said what?

Profile: He has moved smoothly from playing Mozart to Tony Blair. Now Hollywood acclaim beckons in Michael Sheen's latest incarnation as David Frost

Oliver Marre rounds up the week's news and gossip