| Bookies slash the odds on a white Christmas after Arctic winds bring four-inch snowfall [14 mins][Cumbernauld] Thousands of schoolchildren have swapped lessons for sledging as the cold snap brought a blanket of snow to parts of Britain. Hundreds of schools closed as overnight falls of four inches brought much of Northern England and North East Scotland to a standstill. | Zimbabwe's Latest Plague: Cholera [17 mins][Zimbabwe] Already beset by contending politicians and a moribund economy, the country must deal with the possibility of thousands dead from an easily preventable disease |