Plainclothes contractors working for Blackwater USA in the Iraqi city of Najaf, 2004. Spending on private security contractors like Blackwater is estimated to be worth as much as bn since 2001. Photograph: Gervasio Sanchez/AP US Defence Secretary Robert Gates announced last week that he wants... 

Arsenal’s captain, Cesc Fábregas, has been given time off by Arsenal after Spain’s World Cup win. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Arsène Wenger has called for an end to “unneeded talk” linking Cesc Fábregas with a move to Barcelona and is confident his captain will remain... 

David Cameron announced the birth of his daughter outside Royal Cornwall hospital, in Truro. Photograph: Getty Images In a tough year that has included fighting an election and forming a coalition government, David Cameron must have been looking forward to just a little bit of downtime with... 

Lewis Hamilton, right, surveys the scene of his crash during practice at Hockenheim Photograph: Sutton Motorsport/Press Association Images “I’m in the wall, the car is damaged. Heavily,” are not the words they wanted to hear on the McLaren pit wall today, but that is exactly...