BBC World Service

The rescue effort after the Oklahoma twister that killed 24 people nears an end, as it emerges the storm was more powerful than thought.

It is confirmed that Sharon Osbourne will return as a judge in 2013.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen says a suicide in Notre-Dame Cathedral was "political", in a remark condemned by the ruling party.

A 61-year-old man is charged with the murder of four soldiers in the 1982 IRA bombing in Hyde Park, the Crown Prosecution Service says.

Police killer Dale Cregan admits the murders of a father and son in Greater Manchester.

At least 10 people die and 70 are wounded in four days of Syria-linked sectarian violence in Lebanon's, Tripoli.

Up to 600 Afghan interpreters who worked alongside British troops are set to be given the right to live in the UK, in an apparent climbdown by ministers.

Venezuela's National Assembly backs plans to import 39 million rolls of toilet paper, in an effort to relieve a chronic shortage.

Sony says it will consider a proposal from one of its biggest shareholders that it should spin off up to 20% of its entertainment business.

Mohamed Morsi calls for the people of Sinai to give up their arms after seven members of the Egyptian security forces abducted in the region are freed.

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A rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone with annotations and drawings by JK Rowling sells for a record £150,000.

Pakistani politician Imran Khan has been discharged from hospital in Lahore, two weeks after falling from a platform at an election campaign rally.

Is the English language conquering France?

Japan's parliament votes to adopt an international treaty on cross-border child custody disputes, after years of pressure from the West.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy are named in connection with post-election violence in a long-awaited report investigating human rights abuses.

Rioters light fires and stone emergency services in the suburbs of the Swedish capital Stockholm for the third night running after a police shooting death.

Striker Carlton Cole will leave West Ham United this summer after the club decided not to renew his contract.

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, which trades commodities, is being probed by the police and market regulators over alleged financial irregularities.

Sergio Garcia apologises for making what could be interpreted as a racist remark about world number one Tiger Woods.