PM Gordon Brown stands accused of distorting the facts as the parlimentary vote on 42 days detention for terror suspects looms - with church figures joining critics.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, says that the care he saw being given to a baby from an economically deprived family in Bethlehem during his pilgrimage there was a shining reminder of the Christmas message ‚Ä' that God's revolutionary love comes to us as a gift, in the face of all life's trials and joys.

Peace and civil liberties campaigners have welcomed a legal victory by a group of UK anti-war demonstrators who have established that their rights to public protest were violated when police stopped them from attending a non-violent action against the Iraq war at an airbase.