Authorities believe they have disrupted a major people-smuggling network after carrying out dozens of co-ordinated raids in England, France and Belgium.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is expected to be fined a total of about $626m by UK and US regulators later as a result of the Libor scandal.

The US's central bank confirms data was stolen from its systems by hackers, but does not confirm if the incident was that claimed by Anonymous.

How do they know what Richard looked like from his skull?

Every dog owner in England will have to microchip their animal by April 2016 under government plans aimed at cutting the growing number of strays.

Would you stay with a complete stranger on holiday?

A French-owned tanker seized by pirates off Ivory Coast on Sunday is freed and two crewmen are receiving medical treatment , the vessel's owner says.

Mexican authorities say they are determined to catch a gang who raped six Spanish tourists in the holiday resort of Acapulco.

A "sleep studio" has opened in the Austrian capital, Vienna, offering tired workers and shoppers the chance for a power nap in comfortable surroundings.

A Picasso portrait of the artist's mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, has been sold for £28.6m at Sotheby's.

At least five people are reported killed as a tsunami hits the Solomon Islands, after a powerful earthquake that sparked warnings across the Pacific.

UK house prices registered their first annual rise since October 2010, rising by 1.3% in January compared with a year earlier, the Halifax says.

Films built around existing characters from the Star Wars universe are being developed alongside the new trilogy of films, the Walt Disney studio reveals.

There has been a rise in the number of incidents in which hand held lasers are being used to distract airline pilots flying over London, police have said.

Security guards seize a man who tries to hit Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a shoe as he visits a mosque in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Britain's "space-age" Halley research station in the Antarctic - the sixth in a storied history of stations at the locale - goes into full operation this month.

A sixth person is arrested on suspicion of murdering a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed in central London last month.

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong could face new criminal charges in the United States, after admitting drug-taking.

SABMiller agrees to buy China's Kingway Brewery Holdings in a 5.4bn yuan ($864m; £550m) deal.

France says hundreds of Islamist militants have been killed since its offensive began in northern Mali, and suggests troops may start pulling out in March.