The US urges Egypt to investigate cases of police abuse after a man was stripped and beaten by uniformed officers during protests.

Two foreigners, possibly Germans, are kidnapped in northern Colombia, left-wing ELN rebels allege in a statement on their website.

Mining industry leaders are to gather in South Africa this week, for a summit on the future of the mining sector.

As the year of the Snake approaches, one village in China is set to see a rise in its profits as the demand for the serpents soar.

The French government overturns a 200-year-old ban on women wearing trousers in the capital, Paris, dating from November 1800.

The Pakistani city where Osama Bin Laden was found and killed is building an amusement park in a bid to boost tourism, officials say.

The FBI is helping Turkish authorities investigate how a mother-of-two from New York died in Istanbul, a US congressman has said.

Ex-cabinet minister Chris Huhne resigns as an MP after admitting he perverted the course of justice over claims his ex-wife took speeding points for him.

An Iraq war veteran charged with murdering an ex-US Navy Seal sniper is restrained in his cell after becoming aggressive, say officials.

Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne is admitted to a treatment centre in the US.

Researchers show that an idea to produce high-quality rainfall maps using nothing more than mobile phone mast signals works - across a whole country.

The Argentine government has ordered a two-month price freeze on all products in the country's main supermarket chains.

The Canadian penny is withdrawn from circulation as production costs exceed its monetary value, although it will remain legal tender.

Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl who was shot and wounded by the Taliban in Pakistan after campaigning for womens' rights, says she has been given a 'second life'.

Banks will be broken up if they do not follow new rules to ring-fence risky investment operations from High Street operations, the chancellor has announced.

Anger at new case of Egyptian police brutality

A rock which weighs about as much as an aircraft carrier is approaching Earth - but there is no danger of a direct strike.

Greece launches an inquiry into whether four suspected bank robbers were beaten in police custody, after their altered mug shots are released.

Three-year-old Dylan Hall became an internet sensation in Thailand after his parents posted a video of him on YouTube reciting the Thai alphabet.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad volunteers to become the first person sent into space by his country's fledgling space programme.