A new type of evangelical Christian is emerging in the US – of a kind that actively seeks dialogue with other faiths Leaders in the emerging church movement are used to suspicion and attack. They question whether Jesus is the only way, truth and life

Karl Rove is proud that the US used water torture to break the will of prisoners and foil terror plots A senior adviser to former US president George Bush has said he is proud that the country used waterboarding to elicit information from terrorism suspects. Karl Rove , Bush’s chief political strategist for much of his presidency, defended the interrogation approach authorised during Bush’s tenure, saying he was “proud we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists”

The foreign secretary is wrong: Britain’s soft power in the Middle East has much greater influence than its show of force in Iraq There is a common ritual that I, like most Britons, have regularly encountered when riding a taxi in Damascus, Amman or Cairo over the past seven years. Talkative and curious, most cabbies will immediately ask where you are from and, on hearing London, raise the usual questions about Tony Blair and Iraq

Officials agree to pay up to $660m to Ground Zero workers who say they were made ill by inhaling fumes and dust at site of 9/11 attacks New York City authorities have agreed to pay up to $657.5m (£437m) to rescue and recovery workers who claim that they became ill after inhaling dust at the Ground Zero site of the 9/11 terror attacks. Lawyers representing more than 10,000 plaintiffs, who claim they were exposed to toxic contaminants after the collapse of the World Trade Centre, said the settlement must first be approved by a judge and agreed by 95% of the claimants.

The Senate majority leader’s wife is hospitalised with broken neck and broken back after her car was hit by a truck Sad news this evening for Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, with his wife Landra and his daughter Lana in hospital in Washington DC with serious injuries, after the car they were travelling in was hit by a truck. Senator Reid’s office put out a statement : “Senator Reid’s wife, Landra, and daughter, Lana, were involved in an accident earlier today. They are being treated at a Washington-area hospital.

Keep America Safe group draws backlash after dubbing lawyers who defended terrorist suspects ‘al-Qaida seven’ Not long after the Twin Towers fell, Dick Cheney declared the death of more than two centuries of American tradition.

It’s better for Obama to have the odd puff if the alternative is keeping all that stress bottled up inside The Guardian kicked the habit long ago, banning smoking from the office years before it became the law of the land.

Developing nations storm Forbes rich list as America Movil’s Carlos Slim beats Microsoft’s Bill Gates to top spot The old order is under threat at the world’s billionaires club. Traditionally dominated by Americans and Europeans, the top ranks of the world’s richest people have been infiltrated by scores of ultra-rich entrepreneurs from the developing world – capped by the Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim. Today, Slim, the titan of mobile phones in Mexico, criticised as a ruthless monopolist, was crowned as the richest person in the world by Forbes magazine , which calculated his net worth at $53.5bn (£35.7bn)

The Lost Boys actor has been found dead at the age of 38 from a rumoured overdose in Los Angeles The life and career of the former child star and 1980s teen idol Corey Haim might be seen as a succession of cliches. From the early, hugely promising screen appearances to the swift rise as a teen pin-up in movies such as The Lost Boys, he suffered the predictable dip into paparazzi fodder and later into anonymity when his pretty teenage looks faded

In praise of Costa Rica’s healthcare system – although Rush Limbaugh appears to be unaware of its existence My colleagues at Cif America have an entertaining poll running at the moment on Rush Limbaugh’s vow to move to Costa Rica if healthcare reform gets passed by Congress. So far more than 2,000 voters are hoping that Rush will up and leave – although of course that number may include opponents of healthcare reform who side with Rush. What has Costa Rica done to deserve this?