Swiss produces run of his life to blow away more famous and fancied competitors

The extraordinary man who wrote 'The Catcher in the Rye' has died aged 91

The reclusive U.S. author J.D. Salinger, who wrote the American literary classic "The Catcher in the Rye," has died in New Hampshire aged 91, his agent said today.

Legalisation of same-sex marriages in capital is a first for Latin America

For the past month or so it has, in one way, been sheer pleasure to be a golfer. That last term is always used loosely, you understand, for in another way life on the fairway (again, a word that is used generically) has been the usual mixture of frustration, disbelief and resignation. And woods have been responsible for the range of emotions.

John Irving, who never gives short measure, treats the readers of his 12th novel to a double master-class in the arts of writing – and of cooking. As stuffed and spiced with the pleasures of slow-roasted plot and savoury digression as any of his books, Last Night in Twisted River (Bloomsbury, £18.99) can with equal relish argue that "rewriting was writing" against the purveyors of "first-draft gibberish" and disclose the secret ingredient for perfect pizza. It's honey. "I made pizza dough for years and years, and honey was a late discovery," says the creator of generously-portioned bestsellers, whose prowess in the wrestling ring has until now overshadowed his gourmet side.

History and geography combine when you ski in New Hampshire

Relax in style at these paradigms of sophisticated country chic

One of Gordon Brown's closest allies has described David Miliband's call for US-style primaries as "idiotic".

A woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and cutting her unborn baby from her womb which she passed off as her own has been charged as being a fugitive and held on $2m bail.

A baby girl who was cut from her mother's womb has been found alive, police said today.

Out of America: The issue is still bitterly divisive, especially in the conservative heartlands, but there are clear signs that the country's attitudes to gays are changing

New material from <i>Catcher in the Rye</i> author may appear posthumously

Barack Obama was accused of arrogantly assuming victory in the presidential race by Republican rival John McCain today.