An asylum seeker claims he was assaulted by private security staff on a plane at Heathrow airport, the BBC has learned.

Twenty four hours of news photos: 8 February

Two hitmen are jailed for life and must each serve a minimum of 40 years for stabbing to death an innocent student after they targeted the wrong house.

Researchers say they have gained a key insight into how zinc helps the immune system fight infection.

Aftershocks continued to hamper relief efforts in the tsunami-hit Solomon Islands, with one quake forcing a plane carrying the PM to turn back.

Uefa has reduced the cheapest tickets available for this year's Champions League final at Wembley to £68.

England's chief exam regulator warns that she may step in and delay Michael Gove's new planned GCSE changes if the timetable for their implementation is too challenging.

UK toymaker Games Workshop has been criticised for asserting a trademark claim to the phrase 'space marine'.

Nelson Mandela's granddaughters, Swati Dlamini and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, are to star in a new reality television programme called Being Mandela.

Nine female polio vaccinators have been killed in two shootings at health centres in Nigeria's northern state of Kano, police tell the BBC.

The French economy will avoid recession this year, according to the country's central bank.

Bolshoi star dancer gives his version of events

Nigerian music producer Cobhams Asuquo talks to the BBC about his life in the music industry and becoming one of Africa's most sought after music producers

Campaigners whose coaches were prevented from joining a mass rally against the Iraq war at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire win their legal battle against police.

England suffer an agonising two-run defeat by Australia that leaves their Women's World Cup hopes in the balance.

Nelson Mandela's granddaughters, Swati Dlamini and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, are to star in a new reality television programme called Being Mandela.

The former boss of failed Icelandic retail group Baugur, Jon Asgeir Johannesson, has been found guilty of tax evasion.

A new novel that retells the story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of its servant characters is sold around the world.

Measles cases in England and Wales have risen to 2,016 in 2012, the highest annual total for 18 years, says the Health Protection Agency.

French police detain a woman who defaced an iconic Delacroix painting, Liberty Leading The People, at a regional branch of the Louvre Museum.