German opposition launches bid to topple Merkel Germany's opposition Social Democrats will on Sunday launch their campaign to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel next year, throwing their backing behind her former finance minister to challenge her.
08 December 2012
Romanian millionaire hopes for upset in Sunday polls He's under investigation for fraud and on trial for blackmail, but populist millionaire Dan Diaconescu drives a white Rolls Royce and promises to be a reforming figure whose goal is to "uproot the newly rich who have plundered Romania".
07 December 2012
Tablet technology takes teaching into 21st century In September, the British School of Paris (BSP), where McCluskey teaches, became one of a handful of schools across Europe to take the plunge and decide to restructure their teaching around the technology.
07 December 2012
Murdoch matriarch devoted to charity work Dame Elisabeth Murdoch was not just a leading philanthropist but also matriarch of one of the world's most powerful families and a key confidant to son Rupert as he built his global media empire.
Israel PM heads to Berlin as settlement row grows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due in Berlin on Wednesday for talks likely to focus on the growing crisis over settlement plans that could torpedo the viability of a Palestinian state.
05 December 2012
HSBC to sell stake in China insurer Ping An for $9.4 bn Britain's HSBC said Wednesday it would sell its stake in China's second largest life insurer Ping An for $9.4 billion, as it looks to shift its focus back towards its traditional banking business.
05 December 2012
US goes gaga over Britain's royal baby-to-be News that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Prince William and wife Kate, are having a baby lifted Americans' fascination with the British royal family to new heights on Tuesday.
Greece launches bond buyback programme Greece's PDMA national debt agency said on Monday it had begun a voluntary buyback of the country's bonds at heavily discounted prices, a condition for receiving its latest instalment of EU-IMF bailout funds.
Sophie Marceau hopes to push French cinema in China Iconic film actress Sophie Marceau said Monday France needs to start pushing its films in China where there is a huge but restricted market for movies that is largely dominated by Hollywood.
04 December 2012
Sulphur gas boosts theory of Venus volcanoes European scientists said on Monday they had found tantalising clues to back theories that Venus -- Earth's cursed sister -- has active volcanoes.
04 December 2012
Pope to start tweeting next week Pope Benedict XVI will join Twitter from December 12, with regular tweets in eight languages from the account @pontifex just in time for Christmas.
04 December 2012
Sender of first text message 'amazed' 20 years on The British software engineer who sent the world's first text message 20 years ago said on Monday that he is amazed at how the technology has developed.