The High Court has refused a devout Hindu's request to be cremated on an outdoor funeral pyre after his death.

As the young girl's face beamed into the courtroom via a television screen, formalities at the Old Bailey were dispensed with. Off came the judge's horse-hair wig and the barristers, normally used to being referred to as "my learned friend", became simply Bernard, Sally and Paul.

Breast cancer survivor Christina Applegate made the cover of People magazine's 100 most beautiful people issue yesterday in a list that welcomed newcomers US first lady Michelle Obama and "Twilight" heart-throb Robert Pattinson.

This is the full statement of Binyam Mohamed issued through his solicitor:

‘I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery. I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, “torture” was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways – all orchestrated by the United States government.

Here is the full statement issued on behalf of Binyam Mohamed:

The Human Rights Watch Organisation have asked us to clarify that, contrary to what was suggested in today's newspaper, the Nobel Prize winner and lawyer Shirin Ebadi is not in any way affiliated to their organisation.

Internet websites could be given cinema-style age-ratings under plans by the Government to limit access to "unacceptable" material, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has warned.

Thieves stole computer hardware holding barristers' contact and bank account details from the offices of the Bar Council, a spokesman said today.

The notorious shock jock Jon Gaunt has found an unlikely ally in Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights group Liberty, following his sacking from national commercial station TalkSport last week.

A remarkable article by Gavyn Davies in The Guardian today that advocates printing money