Banks face £8bn tax hike

Whitehall asked to look at new revenue raisers, and possibly VAT rise, as £6bn in new cuts looms. Jane Merrick, Brian Brady and Jonathan Owen report

Isabelle Lewis gets encouragement from her parents Ed and Kate to grow her own

Seeds sown for new IoS gardening campaign

The Independent on Sunday is relaunching its drive to get more children growing food at school

After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all

Guy Adams: The great American writer left instructions not to publish his autobiography until 100 years after his death, which is now

Sri Lankan soldiers waiting last week for a ceremony to mark the end of the war in Kilinochchi, where the final battle was fought. The plight of civilians caught in the crossfire was brushed aside at the time

How Beijing won Sri Lanka's civil war

A year after the 27-year Tamil insurgency was brought to a decisive end, Peter Popham looks at how China triumphed where the West failed

Broke Britain 'can no longer afford role in Afghanistan'

Jonathan Owen: Cash, not casualties, could be the factor that finally forces a scaling down of military commitment

Leading article: Can it be the beginning of the end?

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Seeds sown for new IoS gardening campaign

The Independent on Sunday is relaunching its drive to get more children growing food at school

Dr Craig Venter, the US geneticist who has created artificial life in his laboratory.

Public is relaxed about artificial life, says study

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The campaigner Maria Kerigan was one of the first people who volunteered to work for Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers and Listeners' Association. She became its national secretary during one of the most important periods in the history of broadcasting.