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Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been taken critically ill, the US state department says.

Mr Holbrooke, 69, was admitted to hospital on Friday and has undergone surgery to repair a tear in his aorta.

His family have joined him at his hospital bedside in Washington DC.

Mr Holbrooke is best known for brokering the Dayton peace accords in 1995, which ended the Bosnian war.

President Barack Obama named Mr Holbrooke as his special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan in January 2009.

Nicknamed “the Bulldozer”, Mr Holbrooke gained a reputation for confronting warring leaders to get them to come to the negotiating table.

Mr Holbrooke is one of the state department’s top diplomats, having served in Vietnam and at the United Nations.

He has clashed regularly with Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

After the disputed presidential elections in August 2009, Mr Holbrooke was widely reported to have confronted Mr Karzai about poll irregularities.

However, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Kabul denied there had been any shouting or that Mr Holbrooke had stormed out.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Scotland’s beleaguered Transport Secretary Stewart Stevenson has resigned.

Mr Stevenson has faced days of pressure over the way he handled the chaos caused by the recent freezing weather.

Snow and ice brought much of central Scotland’s road network to a standstill earlier this week.

The SNP MSP said he “could have done much more to ensure that members of the public were better informed of the situation”.

Mr Stevenson, the MSP for Banff and Buchan, said: “I deeply regret that and for that reason I feel I should step down.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Aston Villa put questions over manager Gerard Houllier’s nascent tenure to bed with a hard-fought derby win over impressive local rivals West Brom.

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Mark Williams steals the last frame of the opening session to lead Shaun Murphy 5-3 as they battle to meet John Higgins in the UK Championship final.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Manchester City serve notice of their title ambitions by outclassing West Ham to move level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A 12-year-old boy is in a critical condition after a collision moments after he got off a bus.

The boy suffered serious head injuries in the incident which happened in Trellewelyn Road, Rhyl, Denbighshire, just after 1600 GMT on Friday.

North Wales Police say the child had alighted from a bus immediately before the incident.

They are appealing for witnesses especially to the people in a vehicle travelling directly behind the bus.

The boy is being treated at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Workers at the Heinz Baked Beans factory in Wigan will go on strike next week in a row over pay.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

One of convicted US fraudster Bernard Madoff’s sons has been found dead in New York in an apparent suicide, media reports say.

Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanged in his Manhattan apartment on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest.

Mark Madoff and his brother Andrew were both being investigated in the case but have not been charged.

Bernard Madoff admitted last year defrauding thousands of investors through a $65bn (£41bn) Ponzi scheme.

The scheme pays out using new investors’ money rather than from any profits.

Bernard Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year prison term.

The official told AP that a family member had notified police of the incident in the Soho district at around 0730 local time (1230 GMT) on Saturday.

Mark and Andrew Madoff worked on a trading desk for the family firm, in a part of the business not thought to be directly involved in the Ponzi scheme. They and other family members have denied being aware of it.

Mark Madoff’s wife this year asked a court to allow her to change her surname, citing threats to the family.

On Friday, the trustee charged with recovering funds for the victims of Bernard Madoff’s fraud filed lawsuits seeking nearly $20bn in damages.

Irving Picard has charged nearly 60 people, including a number of major banks.

Mark Madoff was also being sued for failing to protect investor assets.

A friend and associate of Bernard Madoff, Jeffry Picower, who was also being sued, was found dead in a swimming pool at his Florida home in October, although the case remains unresolved.

The Ponzi scheme, which had been running since the early 1990s, unravelled when Bernard Madoff’s investors tried to withdraw about $7bn at the height of the economic downturn. He could not produce the money.

Last month, an auction of the possessions of the disgraced financier and his wife was held in New York, raising more than $2m that will go to more than 3,000 clients who lost money through the scheme.

When the fraudster was arrested two years ago, US marshals seized everything he owned and will sell it all.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A student leader has defended protesters after a car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall was caught in the violence of the student protests in London.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.