A lifeboat crashes over the side of a Thomson cruise ship while it is docked in the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands, killing five crew members.

Six French stores pull beef products over fears they may contain horsemeat, as France investigates if the food firms knowingly misled consumers.

Five crew have been killed and three others injured after a lifeboat they were in fell from a cruise ship docked in the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands during a routine safety drill.

Police investigating a series of sexual assaults in the French city of Marseille have arrested identical twins, but do not know which one to charge.

Why subsidising Bulgarian pop craze caused such a stink

Having two governments looking after its affairs gives Scotland "the best of both worlds", David Cameron says as he launches a defence of the Union.

France opens criminal proceedings against four men suspected of links with African militants, amid fears of attacks in the wake of the Mali conflict.

At the Vatican 4,000 members and volunteers of the Knights of Malta, a medieval religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, marched in procession to St Peter's basilica to receive a papal blessing.

The Knights of Malta military order of the Catholic Church - which dates back to the Crusades - celebrates its 900th birthday in Rome.

Knights of Malta claim modern role, 900 years on

A court in Russia places the prominent opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov, who is charged with organising "mass disorder", under house arrest.

Retailers will now carry out "more and tougher testing" of beef products in the wake of widespread horsemeat contamination, the environment secretary says.

Five people reported to be from the same family are killed as a small plane crashes at Charleroi airport in Belgium, forcing it to close.

German Education Minister Annette Schavan resigns after a university stripped her of her doctorate for plagiarism.

Football matches played between British and German soldiers during the Christmas truce of World War I could be recreated for next year's centenary celebrations.

The lack of jobs in Italy is at the heart of a musical that has opened in Rome.

Youth unemployment issue stripped bare ahead of Italian elections

A former US ambassador to Mali says France paid ransom money to free hostages and the funds ended up bolstering Islamist groups it is now fighting.

US food retailers are ordered to carry out tests on all beef products after the meat in some Findus lasagnes was found to be up to 100% horsemeat.

Sex abuse allegations of children at a former Royal Air Force base in Berlin are investigated by the RAF police.