French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militants was an urgent necessity and France was willing to help broker a truce.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague indicated Friday he would decide within days whether to officially recognise the new Syrian opposition after "encouraging" talks with its leaders in London.
The United States called Thursday on Egypt, Turkey and European powers to press Hamas to end bloodshed in Gaza, putting the onus on the Islamist movement to end rocket attacks on Israel.
The BBC on Thursday agreed to pay a former politician £185,000 in damages over false child sex abuse claims, hours after police reportedly arrested another of its former presenters for sexual offences.
BP agreed Thursday to pay a record $4.5 billion in US fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and pleaded guilty to 14 counts including felony manslaughter in the deaths of 11 workers.
Britain should accept defeat and move all of its soldiers out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible, former Liberal Democrat party leader Paddy Ashdown wrote in Friday's The Times newspaper.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday with the two sides seeking to soothe tensions over Berlin's recent criticism of the Russian record on rights.
Ireland's tough abortion laws came under fire on Wednesday following the death of an Indian woman after doctors allegedly refused her a termination because it was against the laws of the Catholic country.
British energy giant BP said on Thursday it was in advanced discussions to settle open criminal and regulatory cases with US authorities over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
Spanish police fired rubber bullets at die-hard protesters hurling bottles, rocks and firecrackers late Wednesday, capping anti-austerity strikes across southern Europe that boiled over into sporadic clashes.
Britain has some of the best galleries in the world, but the vast majority of the oil paintings in public ownership have for decades been hidden away in private offices or storage.