Britain's Heather Watson qualified for the main draw at the French Open for the second successive year in emphatic style this morning.

Heather Watson breezed through her first qualifying match at the French Open this morning against Canada's Sharon Fichman.

Months of searing headaches, a violent, blistering rash – the peculiar agony of shingles took Robert Chesshyre by surprise

An air-and-sea-rescue search for a ferry passenger who is believed to be missing overboard was suspended last night after five hours.

A lawyer warned today that hundreds of jobs could go in the Channel Islands after a High Court judge gave Chancellor George Osborne the go-ahead to disrupt exports of tax-free goods by closing a “loophole”.

The Channel Islands are urgently challenging the legality of proposals they fear could "devastate" a thriving internet trade in VAT-exempt goods, including CDs and DVDs.

British teenager Heather Watson was knocked out of the Moorilla Hobart International in the first round today by Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova.

They are firm friends but British tennis will be hoping they also become big rivals. Laura Robson and Heather Watson, who have both won junior Grand Slam titles, met on the court for the first time yesterday in what could become a long-running battle for supremacy between the British teenagers. Robson, the 2008 Wimbledon junior champion, beat Watson, the 2009 US Open junior champion, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Aegon GB Pro-Series tournament in Barnstaple, Devon.

Watson outgunned by 17-year-old friend but says rivalry is great for women's game

Online beauty retailer Feelunique.com has beat its own financial targets for the first half of the year, reporting like-for-like sales in the six months to the end of September had risen by 57 per cent to £10.4m.

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve looks to be an unusual choice for a novel. He was the foremost French literary critic of his day, producing an enormous amount of work. As he said, he was only truly himself alone in his study, pen in hand. But he is probably best remembered for his love affair with Adèle, the wife of Victor Hugo.

An unprecedented series of natural disasters, such as the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power crisis in Japan, have combined with the Arab Spring to push Hiscox into the red.

Heather Watson's hopes of a third WTA quarter-final of the year ended with a three-set defeat by Canada's Stéphanie Dubois at the Citi Open in Maryland on Thursday.

Artist and illustrator Chris Foss has been credited with transforming the landscape of science fiction. Interview by Matilda Battersby