The al-Jazeera television station made a request under the Freedom of Information Act yesterday for a transcript of the conversation between George Bush and Tony Blair in which the US leader was reported to have discussed bombing the station’s headquarters in Qatar in 2004 (Michael Evans writes).

Lawyers for al-Jazeera sent a letter to 10 Downing Street asking to see only the section of the transcribed conversation that included the reference to the bombing.

Consultant jailed

A hospital consultant has been jailed for 18 months for throwing a baby in a “moment of madness”. Tarek Saba, 36, of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, tossed the 23-day-old baby 4ft on to a beanbag to stop her crying. The baby girl suffered a fractured skull.

Family killed

Gurmej Rai, 38, a gangmaster from West Bromwich, paid his workers to carry out an arson attack in 2004 in which his wife, her parents and another relative died because the family disrupted his bachelor lifestyle, Birmingham Crown Court was told. Mr Rai denies murder. The trial continues.

Arson arrest

Police were questioning a 39-year-old man from Stockport over an arson attack that killed a couple and left a girl in hospital. Alex and Maureen Cochrane died after the fire in Brooklands, Manchester, last Thursday. Lucy, 16, their daughter, is in a serious condition.

Poet’s rapture

Carol Ann Duffy has been awarded the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Rapture, Duffy’s collection of love poems, was described by judges as “a coherent and passionate collection”. The £10,000 prize was presented by Valerie Eliot, the poet’s widow, at an awards ceremony in London.

City to swear by

Londoners’ foul mouths are one of the features of the capital, according to a Lonely Planet guidebook. It says that London also has overpriced public transport, costly restaurants and overrated tourist attractions. The city was praised for its tolerance, however.

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