Rev Calver presided over the funeral of Dylan Hockley By Matt Roper 1:58PM GMT 24 Dec 2012 ...
British-Somali man abducted from Africa appears in US court
A British-Somali man, who earlier this year was stripped of British citizenship and subsequently went missing, has appeared before a US federal court to face charges of terrorism. Mahdi Hashi, 23, disappeared on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, several months...
Russia signs $3bn arms deals with India
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of a meeting at Singh's residence in New Delhi on December 24, 2012 (AFP Photo / Mustafa Quraishi) Russia will sell India military helicopters and...
China: 11 Children Killed In Minivan Crash
A van carrying 15 children has crashed into a roadside pond in a rural area of eastern China, killing 11. Three children died at the scene of the accident in Guixi city, in Jiangxi province, and another eight died later...
Mario Monti announces reform agenda for Italy
On Sunday, Italian Premier Mario Monti ruled out running in February's elections, but said he remains available to head a future government as leader of a pro-reform coalition. Photo: AP ...
Monti urges debate on Italy election as rivals open fire
By James Mackenzie ROME | Mon Dec 24, 2012 8:30am EST (Reuters) - Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti posted his reform agenda online on Monday, urging Italians to join a debate on their country's future as potentially bitter election...
Pakistan’s loneliest church celebrates Christmas in Taliban country
Pastor Nazir Alam smiles as he talks to a journalist at the church Photo: REUTERS 1:16PM GMT 24 Dec 2012 ...
Russia calls on US to end the ‘battle of the blacklists’
RIA Novosti / Maxim Blinov The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister has called on the US to end the tit-for-tat travel bans and sanctions being imposed by the two countries. Sergey Ryabkov called the US officials who had backed the...
Afghan policewoman shoots dead American in Kabul
Afghan police stand guard outside the police compound where an Afghan policewoman shot dead a US military adviser Photo: EPA By...
Egypt tense as nation awaits official referendum results
President Mohamed Morsi Photo: AP 12:37PM GMT 24 Dec 2012 "No official date has been fixed" for the final...
Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen Get In Bed for “Scary Movie 5″ (TRAILER)
For some strange reason, the “Scary Movie” sequels keep on coming. It’s been a while since any of them has actually been funny, but hey, why should that actually stop Hollywood from turning another quick buck? The latest movie...
Taiwan Allows First Land Project by Chinese Developer
TAIPEI — Beijing Vantone, which is known for luxury home projects in China, is building two 29-story towers with ocean views. The developer is working with a local firm to open the $8.6 million project near Taipei by 2014...
Lukoil refuses to take over ExxonMobil stake in Iraqi project
Iraq, Badra (AFP Photo / Ahmad Al-Rubaye) The Russian oil producer Lukoil has turned down an offer from the Iraqi government to replace Exxon Mobil at the West Qurna-1 field in Iraq. The development of a large-scale project such...
Pakistan’s Parliament Nears Milestone
— Parliamentary elections in Pakistan are expected between March and May 2013. They would mark the first time in the nation’s history that a democratically-elected government completed its full term and transferred power to successor dispensation. Previous elected governments have...
Egyptian judges review ballot on contentious constitution
By Tamim Elyan CAIRO | Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:57am EST (Reuters) - Egyptian judges were on Monday investigating complaints of voting irregularities before declaring the result of a referendum set to show that a controversial new constitution has...
Afghan Policewoman Kills Foreign Adviser
Afghan and NATO officials say an Afghan policewoman has killed a foreign adviser in the capital.Authorities say the police officer killed the adviser Monday in Kabul's police headquarters.Officials say the shooting is an apparent "insider attack" in which Afghan...
UN Envoy, Assad Discuss Possible Solution for Syrian Conflict
International peace envoy Lakdar Brahimi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus Monday to discuss a possible solution to ending the 21-month civil war.The U.N.-Arab League envoy arrived in the Syrian capital from neighboring Lebanon on Sunday, the...
New Philippines Law Criminalizes Official Abductions
The Philippines now has a law that bans abductions carried out by government forces, a practice known as enforced disappearances. Under the new law, anyone convicted of carrying out enforced disappearances can be sentenced to life in prison without...
Syria Bakery Airstrike ‘Killed Dozens’
Activists say more than 60 people were killed in a government airstrike on a bakery in a rebel-held town in central Syria. The strike on the town of Halfaya on Sunday left scattered bodies and debris up and down a...
Dead Red Redemption: Lenin to remain in mausoleum despite repairs
Lenin Mausoleum, Moscow (RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich) The body of Lenin will not be leaving its Moscow mausoleum, though many Russians have called for the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution to be reburied. The roof of the mausoleum...
Venezuelan VP Says Chavez’s Health Improving
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro has reassured the nation that ailing President Hugo Chavez continues to recover from cancer surgery.While touring a pediatric hospital in the capital, Caracas, Sunday Maduro told reporters that Chavez's health is improving with each...
Syria envoy meets Assad to discuss solutions to crisis
BEIRUT | Mon Dec 24, 2012 5:42am EST (Reuters) - Syria special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday to discuss a solution to a 21-month-old conflict, which has seen violence rise across the country...
Arshavin may join Pogrebnyak in Reading
Players Pavel Pogrebnyak and Andrei Arshavin (AFP Photo / Sysoev) Former Russia captain Andrey Arshavin is close to leaving Arsenal this winter and moving westwards to Reading. Goal.com reports the Premier League’s underdogs, owned by the Russian businessman Anton...
All the promises we make – activists suggest changes to military oaths
Ceremony of taking the oath (RIA Novosti / Valery Titievsky) Russia’s Public Chamber – a board of human rights activists and advisers that works closely with the authorities – has suggested changing the military oath of enlistment, replacing the...
‘There is a lot of tears in our hearts’
AFP Children ride a donkey-pulled cart in the Jaborona settlement for displaced people from South Kordofan and South Sudan in the desert near Khartoum's twin city Omdurman. Jaborona, Sudan - From homes of mud brick or roughly built shelters,...
Rihanna gives $1.75m to hospital
Rihanna was born and raised in Barbados Pop star Rihanna has donated $1.75m (£1.08m) to a hospital in Barbados in memory of her grandmother. The 24-year-old said the gift, which...
Doomsday pilgrims ‘irreparably’ damage Mayan Temple in Guatemala (PHOTOS)
Published: 24 December, 2012, 14:18 Guatemalan natives and visitors take part in a ceremony on December 21, 2012, celebrating the end of the Mayan cycle known as Bak'tun 13 and the start of the Maya new age, at the...
Doctors save man by using alcohol
A small amount of absolute alcohol was injected to produce a small controlled heart attack UK doctors have saved a man's life using an unconventional treatment - a shot of...
Protests: Indian PM Urges Calm Over Gang-Rape
The Indian Prime Minister has appealed for calm and vowed to protect women as police struggle to quell outrage over sex crimes following the gang-rape of a student. As authorities shut down roads in the heart of India's capital, Manmohan...
Russia to grant unprecedented tax cuts on Arctic exploration
Russian authorities have agreed to lift all export duties for new projects in the Arctic shelf to boost investment in the area. The new tax breaks are expected to come into force by the end of this year. “We managed...
Afghan policewoman kills US aide
Many women are being recruited into Afghanistan's police force An Afghan policewoman has shot dead a US military adviser inside Kabul police headquarters, officials say. It is believed to be the...
Analysis: Ethnicity and ICC cases heat up Kenya presidential race
By James Macharia NAIROBI | Mon Dec 24, 2012 4:11am EST (Reuters) - Alliances forged by Kenya's main presidential contenders for elections in March are lining up a repeat of a largely ethnic-based contest for political power which exploded...
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calls for calm following further gang-rape protests
9:10AM GMT 24 Dec 2012 "There is genuine and justified anger and anguish at this ghastly incident," Mr Singh said in a statement as he appealed for "peace and calm"...
Protest leader Navalny faces new embezzlement charges
Member of the coordinating council of the opposition, lawyer Alexei Navalny (RIA Novosti / Syisoev) Russian investigators say they suspect anti-corruption activist Aleksey Navalny of defrauding a small rightist party of 100 million roubles in 2007. This is the...
