Mayor of London Boris Johnson defends the City of London and bankers during a visit to Paris.

The new Italian parliament meets for the first time since inconclusive elections, but cannot agree on a government or even who should be speaker.

Pope Francis urges world’s Church leaders to "bring evangelisation to the ends of the earth", two days after his election.

Wounded soldiers brave blizzards to train for South Pole race

Fruit producer Del Monte wins a reduction in a European Union fine over banana prices, but an appeal by Dole is rejected.

Rapid drug treatment after HIV infection may be enough to "functionally cure" about one in 10 patients, say researchers in France.

An Irish property developer who said he had been kidnapped for eight months has been arrested on suspicion of wasting time.

The issues of jobs and growth have dominated EU talks in Brussels, amid mass protests in the Belgian capital.

French winemaker Leo Tordjman tells how his Chateau le Puy became an unexpected overnight success in Japan.

Excavations for the Crossrail project in London reveal 13 bodies in a burial ground believed to date from the early days of the Black Death.

The issues of jobs and growth dominate an EU summit in Brussels, as thousands of protesters demonstrate against tough austerity measures.

The average wage of North Sea workers will rise by 15% from £64,000 to £73,000 over the next year, according to analysis by a recruitment firm.

On a mission to stop Poland's historic neon lights fizzling out

French President Francois Hollande backs calls for the EU arms embargo on Syria to be lifted to allow weapons to reach anti-government rebels.

Pope Francis warns that the Catholic Church will be just "a compassionate NGO" unless it focuses on its primary, religious mission.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary defies criticism in the EU and US of constitutional amendments, insisting they are democratic.

The European Court of Justice rules that mortgage laws in Spain are too hard on borrowers who default.

Pope Francis spends his first day as head of the Catholic Church meeting people in Rome ahead of a Sistine Chapel Mass with cardinals.

Xiomara, an unemployed woman from the Dominican Republic who is living in Spain, is just one of thousands of people who have fallen victim to the country's strict property repossession legislation.

The European Court of Human Rights says France violated freedom of expression by fining a man for insulting former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.