Top 10sMusic booksTop 10 books on 1960s AmericaBigots, LSD, Vietnam and Motown – all part of the reading list that inspired Stuart Cosgrove’s Penderyn music book prize-nominated account of 1960s Detroit 1967 in Detroit marked a period of complicated upheaval that powered a sea change in the city’s musical culture, one that was heard and revered around the world. That year, as the city’s most famous group, the Supremes, were riven by personal animosity and Motown tried to cope with the fallout of the greatest girl group ever, Detroit faced up to the biggest challenges in its history – race, poverty, endemic police corruption.

UK newsToys children will be demanding this ChristmasOnly 77 shopping days till Christmas, and toy retailers are keen to get in early with a list of toys that they predict children will be pestering their parents to buy this year. The top 10 toys for Christmas 2002 include new playground crazes and some traditional characters, revitalised by TV or cartoon tie-ins, according to the British Association of Toy Retailers and the British Toy and Hobby Association, which published the list yesterday.

OpinionIsrael-Gaza war This article is more than 2 months old‘We are not special. Be prepared,’ my mother-in-law tells me from Gaza. Then comes the terrible newsThis article is more than 2 months oldSamiha OlwanLast time I visited from Australia, Ibtisam remained calm as I trembled through an Israeli attack. This time it is very different “We are not special,” Ibtisam, my mother-in-law says, and it is as if I am beside her, trembling, while she calmly pours the summakiya into the plates.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn This article is more than 11 years oldDominique Strauss-Kahn's lawyers deny reports of settlement with maidThis article is more than 11 years oldReports that former IMF chief agreed to pay $6m to settle civil case with New York hotel maid are denied by attorneysAttorneys for Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Friday denied that the former International Monetary Fund chief has reached a settlement with a New York City hotel maid who accused him of trying to rape her.

James Wong on gardensGardening adviceNot only does this great trick give you colour and life in the darkest time of year, the branches work as cuttings and can in due course be planted out When I was a kid growing up in Singapore, it seemed like Christmas was barely over when preparations for Chinese New Year would start. It was one of my favourite times of year, not for the feasting and fireworks, but mainly because of the horticultural extravaganza that would ensue.