By Rob Edwards

Allowing private companies to build and run schools and hospitals for profit has been controversial from the start. Now, though, the true cost of the Private Finance Initiative and the scandalous profits being made by businesses is finally revealed. As investigated by Rob Edwards

ANALYSIS: PFI allowed public borrowing to remain hidden. No longer. By Iain Macwhirter

A British student has died on an exchange trip to America after being run over by a bus while she was out jogging, her family said today.

Marks & Spencer's annual profits topped £1 billion for the first time in a decade today.

29,000 dead, 10,000 still buried, 5 million homeless, 500 dams damaged, 7000 school buildings collapsed, 140,000 troops. From Bill Allan in Beijing.

By Diplomatic Editor Trevor Royle

Cargo arrives as Mugabe’s militias intensify crackdown on political opponents
From Fred Bridgland in Johannesburg

Iain Macwhirter on the economy

Ian Bell on the mob

Joanna Blythman on captive animals

Mark McGhee remembers his friend as a man of principle, and humour, who transcended the Old Firm divide

Tommy Burns was a true gentleman who never forgot his humble roots, says long-time friend Jim Black

Rangers did not deserve to win against Zenit St Petersburg but neither did they deserve the ignominy which followed, writes Michael Grant

Business leaders welcome move to speed up system
By Colin Donald

Oil & Gas UK chair accuses green counterparts of overplaying their own importance
By Steven Vass, Deputy Business Editor

By Chris Butler

Transformers turned Shia Labeouf into a star. But appearing alongside Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones‘s sidekick is a much bigger adventure.
By Nick de Semlyen

Barely a year after their self-financed debut, the Ting Tings are on the verge of topping the charts.
By Alan Morrison

The 26th Orkney Folk Festival ­promises to be a non-stop four-day party.
By Sue Wilson

Neither bustling metropolis nor rural idyll, the town is struggling to define itself in the 21st century. Alan Taylor searches for its soul.

By Barry Didcock