The education editor, Polly Curtis, explains why the head of the examining board Edexcel has voiced concerns that schools and colleges won't be ready for the new diploma at the start of the next academic year.
Ewen MacAskill reports from the White House, where Pope Benedict XVI received a rapturous welcome yesterday on his birthday. Meanwhile Gordon Brown's visit to Washington has aroused little interest stateside.
The chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, tells the home affairs editor, Alan Travis, that the real solution to the problem of overcrowding is investment in alternatives to prison.
Abkhazia, the breakaway region of Georgia, could become a new cold-war flashpoint if Russia recognises its independence against the wishes of Tblisi. Moscow correspondent Luke Harding says that after the EU and the US support for Kosovo's claim of independence, there may be several other would-be states ready to follow suit.
Robert Kitson assesses Martin Johnson's appointment as England's new rugby union team manager.
