Britons voiced anger Wednesday as a hopeless contestant described as a `dancing pig` quit a top television show, seeking to defuse a media-fuelled row which has threatened to divide the nation.

Syria must choose between `peace or belligerence` in its dealings with Israel, and between relations with Iran or the Jewish state, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Wednesday.

`They cannot escape the choice... they are under the impression that they can do both,` the former prime minister and Nobel peace prize winner said during a visit to London.

US actress Winona Ryder was briefly taken to hospital in London on Wednesday after falling on ill on a flight from Los Angeles, her publicist said, adding that she had recovered.

She was treated for an unspecified problem by doctors on arrival at London`s Heathrow Airport, he said, confirming comments by spokesmen for a local hospital and airline British Airways.

Saying they were tired of YouTubers `ripping us off,` British comedy troupe Monty Python have struck back, launching their own channel on the video-sharing site.

`For three years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube,` the surviving Monty Python members said in a message and video at youtube.com/MontyPython.

US actress Winona Ryder was taken to hospital near London`s Heathrow Airport on Wednesday after falling ill on a flight from Los Angeles, hospital and airline spokesmen said.

`The captain of BA282, which was travelling from LA to Heathrow, requested a priority landing as a female passenger required medical attention,` said a spokesman for British Airways.

Legendary Welsh singer Tom Jones shocked passers-by in central London on Wednesday by performing an impromptu set on a pavement to raise money for a cancer charity.

The 68-year-old thrilled hundreds of people who thronged around him snapping photographs on their mobile phone cameras, as he sang with only an acoustic guitarist alongside him.

A trans-Atlantic Air Canada flight diverted to Ireland after the co-pilot became `belligerent` and had to be removed from the cockpit, an official report said on Wednesday.

Britons voiced anger Wednesday as a hopeless contestant described as a `dancing pig` quit a top television show, seeking to defuse a media-fuelled row which has threatened to divide the nation.

Shareholders of British bank Lloyds TSB on Wednesday backed the takeover of troubled rival HBOS and a recapitalisation that will hand the British government a key stake.

Lloyds TSB investors, holding an extraordinary general meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, voted almost 96 percent in favour of the HBOS takeover.

An Albanian court on Wednesday sentenced a British man to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing children at an orphanage in the Balkan country.

David Brown, a 57-year-old charity worker, was found guilty of sexually abusing at least two children, aged nine and 10, in the orphanage located in the central town of Elbasan, judge Geri Hoxha said.

Britain has returned to Greece a 14th-century icon stolen from a Greek Orthodox monastery 30 years ago and found in the hands of a London-based collector, the Greek culture minstry said on Wednesday.

The religious painting of Christ`s Deposition from the Cross had been stolen from the monastery of St John the Baptist in Serres, northern Greece in 1978.

Britain`s 20 richest south Asians are worth nearly seven and a half billion pounds combined, according to an annual list published Wednesday which ranks metal magnate Lord Swraj Paul top.

A British man committed suicide by cutting off his own head with a chainsaw, an inquest into his death found Wednesday.

David Phyall, 50, took his own life because he was `irrationally opposed` to leaving his home, which had been repossessed, Deputy Coroner Simon Burge said at Winchester Coroner`s Court in southern England.

A Kenyan court on Wednesday charged eight Somalis seized during a British naval operation off the coast of the lawless Horn of Africa country last week for hijacking a shipping vessel.

The suspects, wearing blue uniforms, pleaded not guilty to the charge of piracy before Mombasa chief magistrate Catherine Mwangi.

Groups representing Britain`s car industry said on Wednesday they had urged the government to help bolster the ailing sector, partly by increasing access to credit.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday he hopes 2009 will usher in changes around the globe that will bring about a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement.

Syria must choose between `peace or belligerence` in its dealings with Israel, and between relations with Iran or the Jewish state, President Shimon Peres said Wednesday.

`They cannot escape the choice... they are under the impression that they can do both,` the former prime minister and Nobel peace prize winner said during a visit to London.

Syria must choose between `peace or belligerence` in its dealings with Israel, and between relations with Iran or the Jewish state, President Shimon Peres said Wednesday.

`They cannot escape the choice... they are under the impression that they can do both,` the former prime minister and Nobel peace prize winner said during a visit to London.

The Bank of England mulled slashing British interest rates even more sharply in November, before it cut borrowing costs by 150 basis points to a 53-year low, minutes from the meeting showed Wednesday.

The Bank of England mulled slashing British interest rates even more sharply in November, before it cut borrowing costs by 150 basis points to a 53-year low, minutes from the meeting showed Wednesday.

Britain announced plans Wednesday to outlaw prostitution involving women forced into the sex trade through illegal trafficking -- but the move was sharply criticised by experts.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants to criminalise paying for sex `controlled for another person`s gain` in England and Wales after rejecting a total ban on prostitution because of insufficient public support.

Britain announced plans Wednesday to outlaw prostitution involving women forced into the sex trade through illegal trafficking -- but the move was sharply criticised by experts.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants to criminalise paying for sex `controlled for another person`s gain` in England and Wales after rejecting a total ban on prostitution because of insufficient public support.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband denounced on Wednesday the `scourge` of piracy in the Gulf of Aden where ships have increasingly been falling victim to bandits.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband denounced on Wednesday the `scourge` of piracy in the Gulf of Aden where ships have increasingly been falling victim to bandits.

A new voice-recognition search tool for the iPhone has problems understanding British accents, leading to some bizarre answers to spoken queries, a newspaper report and users said Wednesday.

A new voice-recognition search tool for the iPhone has problems understanding British accents, leading to some bizarre answers to spoken queries, a newspaper report and users said Wednesday.

Britain announced plans Wednesday to outlaw prostitution involving women forced into the sex trade through illegal trafficking.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants to criminalise paying for sex `controlled for another person`s gain` in England and Wales after rejecting a total ban on prostitution because of insufficient public support.

Britain announced plans Wednesday to outlaw prostitution involving women forced into the sex trade through illegal trafficking.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants to criminalise paying for sex `controlled for another person`s gain` in England and Wales after rejecting a total ban on prostitution because of insufficient public support.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday he hoped 2009 would see a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement given changes in the US and Israeli administrations and elections in the region.

`I think 2009 is going to be a very important year,` Miliband told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday he hoped 2009 would see a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement given changes in the US and Israeli administrations and elections in the region.

`I think 2009 is going to be a very important year,` Miliband told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

Bank of England policymakers voted 9-0 to slash British interest rates by a third to 3.00 percent earlier this month, minutes of their meeting revealed on Wednesday.

The BoE had on November 6 slashed its key lending rate from 4.5 percent to the lowest level in more than half a century, a sign according to economists of a deep recession ahead for Britain.

Bank of England policymakers voted 9-0 to slash British interest rates by a third to 3.00 percent earlier this month, minutes of their meeting revealed on Wednesday.

The BoE had on November 6 slashed its key lending rate from 4.5 percent to the lowest level in more than half a century, a sign according to economists of a deep recession ahead for Britain.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned of the `grave danger` of piracy in Somalia Wednesday, calling for the immediate release of crew members including Britons hijacked on a Saudi supertanker.

`The United Kingdom is very worried about the piracy in the Gulf of Aden and in Somalia.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned of the `grave danger` of piracy in Somalia Wednesday, calling for the immediate release of crew members including Britons hijacked on a Saudi supertanker.

`The United Kingdom is very worried about the piracy in the Gulf of Aden and in Somalia.

Pop opera quartet Il Divo topped the British charts on Sunday with their new album `The Promise,` knocking Girls Aloud off the number one spot in a top 10 dominated by old classics.

Welsh rockers Stereophonics went straight in at number two with `Best Of -- Decade in the Sun,` pushing the girls` `Out of Control` into third place.