Mahmoud Abbas says in a speech that he will apply to the UN Security Council for full membership for a Palestinian state, risking a US veto.

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, is on the verge of running in the Irish presidential election.

Berlin police appeal for information to help them identify a teenager who appeared in the city saying he had been living in the woods for five years.

Primary school pupils need to have at least nine hours' sleep each night or their capacity to learn will be impaired, say researchers.

Scotland Yard is trying to force the Guardian to reveal the sources behind its story about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone, the newspaper says.

The search for four miners trapped underground in a flooded Swansea Valley colliery ends with the discovery of the last body.

Anti-Gaddafi forces are forced to retreat after entering the town of Bani Walid, one of the last strongholds of the ousted Libyan leader.

The cost of renting a home rose at its fastest rate in a year - with the average tenant paying £713 a month, a survey says.