British boybands One Direction and The Wanted have taken the US – and the pages of The New Yorker – by storm. Tim Walker charts their stateside success

'When I look in the mirror, I see someone who's caught up with his age'

Six-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift will perform at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards next month. But she won't be the only gold winner in the room.

More than 50 million people in the UK watched TV coverage of London 2012 - equivalent to 90% of the population.

Are any of London's top clubs safe from the hormonal pulse of Team USA's swimmers? The usual mob were out in force on Thursday night at the Rose Club, with successive nights of partying appearing to have taken their toll on a catatonic Ryan Lochte.

When is the closing ceremony? It starts at 9pm London time on Sunday and is due to finish before midnight.

Burma's opposition leader tells MPs her people can only get 'so far' on their own. By Nigel Morris

But Prescott accuses PM of double standards with tweeted reference to Lord Ashcroft

Not to be confused with Ridley Scott's alien thriller Prometheus, another reinterpretation of the Greek myth arrives in Greenwich next week. Prometheus Awakes will be a piece of theatre on a grand scale - providing the weather stays fine.

We've all been there: poised, keenly bleary eyed at 6am as the tickets go on sale, ready to choose which price band we want, tap in our details and hey, presto, we're pretty sure we've just got tickets for the next big game/gig/ athletics meeting (hmm, 2012, don't know which meet that might be...).

What we love, we're not sure about, we're dying and can't wait for...

Take That star Mark Owen said he was "thrilled" after he confirmed he is the third member of the band set to become a father this year.

Robbie Williams is to become a father, as he announced his wife Ayda is pregnant.