A fraud case considered vital as part of Brazil's drive to clear up corruption ahead of hosting the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics two years later has been resolved in Jersey.

The Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, is fond of dismissing George Osborne as an "out of touch" public school toff whose primary interest is feathering the nests of the wealthy. But the Chancellor is a cannier politician than his opponents give credit for. It seems likely now that he will indeed cut the top rate of income tax from 50p on Wednesday; given the opportunity to scotch that incendiary rumour, yesterday he failed to do so. But just as anger mounts over what Labour, not to mention many Liberal Democrats, fear will be a Budget for the rich, he announces an intention to come down "like a ton of bricks" on tycoons avoiding stamp duty.

Mining officials loyal to President Robert Mugabe are stashing profits from diamond fields amid fears the money could fund political violence ahead of proposed elections, it was claimed yesterday.

Milan Mandaric was tried and acquitted of another tax fiddling charge at Portsmouth, it can be revealed today.

Wherever you go this year, make sure you get the best from your holiday. Chris Leadbeater has dozens of ideas

You report that David Cameron and George Osborne are sympathetic to the (entirely predictable) calls by the banks for reform to be delayed for several years ("Osborne and Cable at war over bank reform", 31 August).

A lightning strike has been blamed for a fire that ripped through the luxurious Caribbean home of Sir Richard Branson, forcing his guest, the actress Kate Winslet, to rush for safety along with the entrepreneur's 90-year-old mother.

Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and her children managed to escape unhurt today after a middle-of-the-night fire ripped through Sir Richard Branson's luxury home in the Caribbean.

A luxury yacht has been impounded at Southampton docks after more than a ton of cocaine was found hidden "ingeniously" within its bowels in the largest Class-A drugs bust in Britain.

FIFA have given all 25 Caribbean associations 48 hours to provide statements about the events at the meeting in Trinidad which led to Mohamed Bin Hammam being banned for life for bribery.

His pleasant manner as a Customs officer concealing a steely determination to catch the most wily of bootleggers, Mike Bailey achieved notable successes against drug smugglers in Britain and the British Virgin Islands. The cleverest tried to hide drugs inside a tombstone being shipped through Felixstowe. Suspecting it had a less worthy purpose, Bailey asked a stonemason to chip off the surface layer. He sealed it up again after Customs officers had removed its illegal contents. They tracked the headstone to a London warehouse, where a patient watch resulted in arrests.