Raising the cost of alcohol to 45p a unit would immediately save about 50 lives a year The dispute over the need for controls on the cost of alcohol intensified today after the Scottish government unveiled formal plans to fix a minimum price for all alcoholic drinks at 45p per unit. That would double or [...]

Rupert Murdoch (left) talks to his son James as they watch horse racing at the Cheltenham Festival in March this year. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/REUTERS While Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers laid off journalists and fought their way through a global advertising recession, the Australian-born media mogul endured a modest degree of personal belt-tightening – his take-home [...]

Candover Investments has announced plans to wind itself up. Among the assets the private equity firm will be selling is Ferretti, the Italian luxury yacht group. Candover Investments today became the latest high-profile victim of the financial crisis, as the private equity firm announced plans to wind itself up, selling its remaining assets and returning [...]

Drilling has begun for a rescue shaft to reach the 33 trapped miners at the San Jose mine in Copiapó, Chile. Photograph: Felix Alonso/AP The miners trapped underground in Chile will have to move up to 4,000 of tonnes of rock sent crashing down into their tunnel by the drill that last night began boring [...]

Prayers are offered for the trapped miners by religious devotees during a ceremony at the San Jose gold and copper mine in Copiapo, Chile. Photograph: Ariel Marinkovic/AFP The 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground have spoken for the first time to family members waiting for them on the surface. The brief phone conversations late yesterday [...]