The Saudi King has named the conservative Interior Minister as the new crown prince.

Evershot, in West Dorset, reeks with literary association. It turns up in Tess of the D'Urbevilles as "the small town or village of Evershead" where Tess pauses on her way to call on Angel Clare's parents: "She made a halt here and breakfasted a second time, heartily enough – not at the Sow and Acorn, for she avoided inns, but at a cottage by the church." The church is St Basil's (patron saint of hoteliers, I expect) and the poet George Crabbe was rector there. Had poor Ms D'Urbeville lived a century later, she could have had her breakfast at Summer Lodge, a former dower-house whose grounds were part-designed by Thomas Hardy, when he was the local architect.

A gay police officer apparently targeted for his friendship with television personality Michael Barrymore, a former Labour minister and the ex-wife of rock star Noel Gallagher yesterday became the latest people to lodge damages claims for phone hacking against Rupert Murdoch's News International.

A turnaround firm has acquired parts of Walmsley Furnishing out of administration, although 35 of its 60 stores have been shut and 100 jobs lost.

Around 200 jobs have been lost after specialist retailer Floors 2 Go collapsed into administration for the second time in three years.

The lonely, isolated lives that many Poles are compelled to live in the UK mean pressures can mount

The names of the News of the World executives who told the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to hack the mobile phones of prominent figures are due to be revealed next week, as a result of legal action taken by the comedian and actor Steve Coogan.

Paris Hilton answers that age old question, why did God make celebrities?

The Transport Secretary Philip Hammond spent nearly £5,000 of his department's money on recovering four sofas and a chair in his ministerial office, it was revealed yesterday.

The struggle on the high street was underlined today as official figures revealed a greater-than-expected slowdown in retail sales.