Europe

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked Maldivians to refrain from violence amidst the takeover of a new government after the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed.

A 19-year-old Russian has been sentenced to jail for nine years for starting a terrorist cell while still underage.

The miserly heartless Bah Christmas scoundrel Ebenezer Scrooge topped a Penguin Books poll commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary this week of British novelist Charles Dickens's birth.

Public unease has given way to increasing fury in The United Kingdom over giving millions of pounds in aid to an increasingly prosperous India, as the David Cameron government continues to resist pressure to stop it despite being in the throes of an economic crisis.

Catholic leaders from around the world gathered on Monday for an unprecedented Vatican summit to find ways to root out paedophilia in the clergy that came under heavy criticism from victims.

Sixty years after she ascended to the throne in an austere Britain still facing post-war rationing, Queen Elizabeth marked the milestone on Monday with a new website that showed just how much the world has changed during her reign.

The British-born wife of Syria's president has spoken in support of her husband for the first time since the 11-month uprising against his regime began, a British newspaper reported today.

Prime Minister David Cameron has re-affirmed Britain's decision to continue its aid programme to India, amidst a row sparked by some ruling conservative MPs demanding an end to it, and reports that India did not need it. Increasing fury in UK over aid to India

On Jan 23, the EU adopted a set of sanctions against Syria that targetted 22 top Syrian officials and eight companies with a ban on travel to the EU and a freeze on assets in Europe.

A row on aid to India heated up on Sunday after diplomats said a statement frontpaged by a leading British newspaper, quoting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as saying aid is “peanuts,” was in fact made in 2010. Dipankar De Sarkar reports.

Queen Elizabeth II braved the cold and snow to attend church today on the eve of her Diamond Jubilee anniversary.

Bitterly cold weather sweeping across Europe claimed more victims on Sunday, brought widespread disruption to transport services, and left thousands without power with warnings that low temperatures would continue into next week.

The deadly cold snap that has gripped Europe for more than a week strained emergency services, wrought travel chaos and claimed more lives today, bringing to more than 300 the tally of victims.

The world's busiest international passenger airport said that up to 10 centimetres of snow were expected to fall which would cause major disruption at the west London airport without reductions to the flight schedule.