Barack Obama is planning his first trip to Israel as US president, in a spring trip that will include the West Bank and Jordan, says the White House.

Two teenagers whose fingers were cut off in a tug-of-war accident at a California school are awake and alert after surgery, a medical official says.

A woman who accused Somalia's security forces of raping her is given a year jail term for making a false accusation and insulting a government body.

The northern Japanese city of Sapporo is hosting the country's largest snow festival with giant sculptures of iconic Asian buildings on show.

Olympic gold medallist Lindsey Vonn is out for the season after a crash at the Alpine Skiing World Championships.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny apologises for the stigma and conditions suffered by women who were inmates of the country's Magdalene laundries.

An Iraq war veteran charged with murdering an ex-US Navy Seal sniper received psychiatric care in recent months, police records show.

Austrian Felix Baumgartner fell even faster during his historic skydive last October than was originally thought.

Same-sex marriage will "make our society stronger", David Cameron says as MPs prepare to vote on the controversial issue.

Bulgaria blames Hezbollah for killing five Israelis and a bus driver in 2012, prompting the US and Israel to call for action against the Lebanese group.

Chris Huhne's former wife was looking for revenge when she passed the story about his speeding offence to the press, a court hears.

The Greek government invokes emergency powers to order maritime workers back to work after a six-day strike cuts traffic to the country's islands.

The Falkland Islands will be back under Argentine control within '20 years', the country's foreign minister says during his first visit to London.

US President Barack Obama has urged the people of Kenya, where his father was born, to avoid violence and intimidation in next month's elections.

The owner of a firm awarded a large contract to restore the ancient Roman city of Pompeii is placed under house arrest and investigated for fraud.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since the Islamic revolution in 1979, as he arrives in Cairo for a summit.

A woman in her 80s left at home without medication, food, or water for nine days after a care agency was shut down dies in hospital.

Egypt's dwindling foreign currency reserves fall 10% in a single month, renewing concerns over the economy.

Some 1,800 soldiers from Chad have entered Kidal, the last major town in northern Mali under rebel control, the French military says.

A week after the horrific fire which killed 237 people in Brazil, Santa Maria University, where most of the victims studied has re-opened.