Britain's Defence Secretary (minister) Liam Fox resigned on Friday night amid allegations that he asked a wealthy Tory donor to fund his best man and former flatmate Adam Werritty. Dr. Fox quit when he learnt he was to face a torrent of new claims about damaging conflicts of interest between Mr. Werritty's backers and his role as Defence Secretary.

Peeved at Russia's Security Council veto derailing a Western-sponsored resolution against Syria last week, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice implicitly accused the Russians of protecting the beleaguered government of President Bashar al-Assad primarily to safeguard their lucrative arms market in the Middle Eastern country.