Viewpoint: Benedict's missed opportunities

A former US soldier receives the nation's highest military award for fighting off an attack by hundreds of insurgents on an isolated Afghan base.

BBC's North America editor will answer your questions on Twitter

Cardinal Timothy Dolan says he was "very startled" by the news that Pope Benedict XVI would resign, the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years.

Musicians including Dave Grohl, Janelle Monae and LA Reid have been paying tribute to Whitney Houston on the first anniversary of her death.

Fun, Gotye, The Black Keys and Mumford and Sons are among the main award recipients at the 55th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

Can extreme calorie counting make you live longer?

Confidence among UK businesses hit its lowest level in at least 21 years last month, a survey suggests, renewing recession fears.

A friend recalls the weekend before Sylvia Plath took her life

Thousands of people across large swathes of the north-eastern United States and eastern Canada battle to clear up after an intense snowstorm.

Chinese table-tennis player Zhuang Zedong, who had a pivotal role in the "ping-pong diplomacy" that led to a thaw in US-China ties in the 1970s, dies.

Singer Celine Dion has performed in Mandarin on Chinese state TV as part of its New Year Gala show welcoming in the Lunar New Year.

Gen John Allen, the outgoing commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, says the alliance is on the road to winning the war in the country.

The north-eastern United States is beginning to recover from one of its biggest winter storms in living memory, which left at least four people dead.

LAPD officials say they will re-examine why fugitive former officer Christopher Dorner was sacked as they hunt the man suspected of killing three people.

Nasa's Curiosity rover finally drills deep enough into Martian rock to acquire a powdered sample for analysis - a historic first in planetary exploration.

The funeral of a teenage girl who was shot dead a week after performing at President Obama's inauguration has been held in Chicago.

New York has been spared the worst of the storm, but some neighbourhoods that are still recovering after Hurricane Sandy, are now facing another clean-up.

A major snowstorm brings areas of the north-eastern US and Atlantic Canada to a standstill, with hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity.

A major snowstorm in the north-eastern US and eastern Canada leaves to hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity and paralyses transport.