Why wouldn't they? Some of the 5,000 sailors facing redundancy from the Royal Navy are being targeted by recruiters from the Australian navy offering a fast track to citizenship. They are even offering the reverse of the Queen's shilling waiting, at the end of the gang-plank, as the sailors disembark from their British vessels.

Tens of thousands of protesters have marched through Belgium's capital to protest against new austerity measures brought on by Europe's financial crisis.

Nearly half of the 33 miners who survived more than two months trapped underground last year have had their requests for early retirement approved. The 14 men, who cited either physical or psychological reasons for needing to stop working, will receive £330 a month from the government.

Chile's government has granted early retirement requested by nearly half of the 33 miners who survived more than two months trapped deep underground.

A trade union leader is to step down from his post at the end of the year, it was announced today.

Turkey's civilian leaders prepared to use an unprecedented opportunity this week to choose generals they trust after the top commanders of all four military branches resigned in protest over the detention of comrades facing coup conspiracy charges.

Cisco Systems is to cut 15 per cent of its staff and sell a set-top-box factory as part of a plan to cut annual expenses by $1bn (£620m) as the network equipment maker tries to revive its fortunes.

The space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of six left the International Space Station and headed home to end Nasa's next-to-last shuttle flight on Sunday, pausing just long enough to perform a victory lap and test equipment for a future interplanetary ship.

There are almost a million young people unemployed in Britain, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday – about one in five people and the highest number since 1992.

The number of jobs cut or threatened with the axe at local authorities has passed the 160,000 mark, with more councils set to announce redundancies in the coming weeks.

The most exciting day of young Stephen Newman's life is trying on Marilyn Monroe's mink stole. In the warehouse where his father works, caring for movie stars' fur coats, Stephen sees what transformation a draped pelt brings, while "exercising his birthright, the American capacity to be reborn."

The number of job losses threatened at local authorities because of Government spending cuts has topped the 140,000 mark, according to a new study today.

The magnificent menhir that commemorates Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, killed by English forces at Cilmeri near Builth in the middle March on 11 December 1282, is the focus for several hundred patriots who gather there on the anniversary of his death every year.