To nobody's surprise, a British general election was called for May 6th. The opening days of the campaign were dominated by rows over the Labour government's plan to raise national insurance (a tax on earnings) to fund public services. The opposition Con… more »

Russian security services said that two female suicide-bombers blew themselves up on Moscow's metro system, killing 39 people. There was no claim of responsibility, but blame immediately fell on Islamic insurgents from Russia's north Caucasus region. Vla… more »

Barack Obama delighted environmentalists by deciding that he would, after all, attend the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen next month (he had already scheduled a trip to Oslo to pick up the Nobel peace prize). Mr Obama will offer provisional cut… more »

Information technology can make electricity grids less wasteful and much greener. Businesses have lots of ideas and governments are keen, but obstacles remainRead article more »

Poor countries have already benefited hugely from mobile phones. Now get ready for a second round. - The landscape of telecoms - The rise of the mobile - The mother of invention - Up, up and Huawei - New uses for mobile phones - Internet for the… more »

Manufacturing: Producing solid objects, even quite complex ones, with 3-D printers is gradually becoming easier and cheaper. Might such devices some day become as widespread as document printers? Read article more »