ABOARD THE WHITBY ROSE, North Sea, March 7 (Reuters) – His
eyes fixed on the North Sea horizon, British skipper Howard
Locker steers his boat far out to sea where he hopes to stumble
on enough fish to save the day.

But things are not looking good for Locker – one of the last
remaining trawler men in the northeastern town of Whitby where
fishing quotas, climate change and decades of overfishing have
crushed the local fishing industry.

LONDON (Reuters) – American legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin, the man behind some of the most influential theories of law and morality in modern jurisprudence, died on Thursday. He was 81.

His family said in a statement that Dworkin died of leukaemia in London early in the morning. He is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren.

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – As Britons choke on discovering
they may have eaten horse that was imported as beef, and
ministers blame an “international criminal conspiracy”, this new
scandal has exposed the sometimes murky labyrinth by which food
reaches Europe’s dinner tables.

Lurid headlines reveal a culinary gulf between distaste for
the notion of horsemeat in Britain and its status as a delicacy
elsewhere in Europe. But as governments play down the health
risks, a greater impact may stem from a shattering of public
confidence in EU systems of labelling and quality control
introduced after previous threats hit the human food chain.

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – British Olympic chiefs, keen to
secure a lasting future for London’s splashy sporting arenas,
hope to find a permanent tenant for its centrepiece stadium by
March – a deal seen as a barometer of the project’s financial
health.

Six months since London won worldwide kudos for hosting the
Games, wrangling over the future of the stadium is seen as a
litmus test for Britain’s ability to turn the sprawling Olympics
complex into a new and vibrant part of London.

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Britain has vowed a tough
response against militants in North Africa, but behind its tough
language lies the ugly reality of a fast-shrinking army, deep
budget cuts and little U.S. interest in another costly war in a
distant desert.

Enraged by the death of British citizens in a hostage taking
crisis in Algeria, Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a
global response to jihadist threats in North Africa and warned
it could take decades to tame the increasingly volatile region.

CAIRO (Reuters) – A senior EU official urged Egypt on Sunday to conclude its talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan agreement, saying the deal would help restore international confidence in its wrecked economy.

Already struggling after two years of unrest following Egypt’s 2011 revolution, the economy has been hit by a new bout of turmoil in recent weeks, with tensions over a new constitution damaging people’s confidence in the government.

CAIRO (Reuters) – A senior EU official urged Egypt on Sunday to conclude its talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan agreement, saying the deal would help restore international confidence in its wrecked economy.

Already struggling after two years of unrest following Egypt’s 2011 revolution, the economy has been hit by a new bout of turmoil in recent weeks, with tensions over a new constitution damaging people’s confidence in the government.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt ordered a retrial of deposed president Hosni Mubarak on Sunday after accepting an appeal against his life sentence, opening up an old wound in the painful transition from decades of authoritarian rule.

Mubarak, 84, was ousted in 2011 after 30 years in power and jailed for life last year over the killing of protesters by security forces trying to quell a mass street revolt.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Shi’ite Iran, increasingly isolated over its nuclear programme, tried to improve ties with Egypt on Thursday, playing down differences over Syria and seeking to reduce sectarian tensions by courting the country’s top Sunni scholar.

Iran has been at odds with the Arab world’s most populous nation since Tehran’s Islamic revolution in 1979. But a new era of Egyptian politics that followed the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak has led to more contacts.

ZAGAZIG, Egypt (Reuters) – These days, craftsmen, shopkeepers and other inhabitants of the Egyptian Delta town of Zagazig are often too busy making ends meet to ponder why life seems to be getting harder every day.

But when, exhausted, they finally come home and sit down to their evening meal, conversations inevitably turn to growing hardship and the frightening prospect of cuts in food subsidies as the economy slides further into crisis.