Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denies allegation that he and other governing party members received secret payments, and vows not to resign.

Sasha Marsden, the teenager found dead in a Blackpool alleyway, was stabbed in the head before attempts were made to set her on fire, police say.

The number of seabirds killed after coming into contact with an oily substance is still rising, the RSPB has said.

The Ministry of Justice is suspending a firm supplying meat to prisons after tests found its halal products may have had pork DNA traces.

Attempts to cut youth unemployment in England are being hampered by excessive bureaucracy and central government control, council leaders say.

A quarter of a million Twitter users have had their accounts compromised in the latest of a string of high-profile internet security breaches.

Five men plead not guilty to the rape and murder of a student in a Delhi bus in December, in a case which caused outrage across India.

He's half his height and a third of his age, but budding diver Oscar Piper is already hoping to become the next Tom Daley.

Two senior Australian cabinet ministers announce surprise resignations, only days after Prime Minister Julia Gillard called early elections.

Japanese coastguards detain a Chinese boat for allegedly fishing in a Japanese exclusive economic zone amid an ongoing row over disputed islands.

Thirteen soldiers and 10 civilians have died in an attack by Taliban militants on a checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, officials say.

A previous victim of one of the two hitmen convicted of the murder of a Cardiff student in a case of mistaken identity speaks of his horror.

The UN anti-genocide envoy expresses alarm over reports of reprisal attacks by Malian troops, as France's Francois Hollande visits Mali.

Any fines by US authorities on Royal Bank of Scotland over the Libor scandal should be met by bankers not taxpayers, the Chancellor insists.

Emotional behaviour in childhood may be linked with heart disease in middle age, especially in women, research suggests.

Rescue work after a deadly blast at the headquarters of Mexico's Pemex oil company enters its most dangerous phase, says the attorney general.

Going out with Soweto's decadent young 'boasters'

Decoding facial grooming habits in the Arab world

Matt McGrath on why GM potatoes are not taking root in Europe

Why authors are increasingly turning to self-publishing