The last chance to stop a ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales coming into effect this week disappeared on Wednesday when pro-hunt campaigners lost a legal appeal. The ban, which outlaws a

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Switzerland will return to Nigeria some $458 million siphoned into Swiss bank accounts by the African country's former dictator Sani Abacha, quashing an appeal by his family to halt the transfer. The Federal Office of

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French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Wednesday France wanted an EU arms embargo on China lifted because sales of weapons technologies to Beijing could slow a Chinese push to develop their own capabilities. China

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A top officer in Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebel group surrendered on Wednesday, boosting hopes that other senior commanders could soon abandon their 18-year insurgency, a mediator and army intelligence chief said. Brigadier Sam Kolo,

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Thousands of Amazon peasants flocked to the funeral of a US nun on Tuesday and vented anger that the Brazil's government has only acted to stem rising violence in the rain forest after the murder

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The Church of England, already split over the ordination of gay bishops, agonised on Wednesday over taking another leap of faith - appointing women bishops. The issue sparked impassioned debate at the General Synod, the

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Egypt's former queen Nariman Sadeq died in a Cairo hospital on Wednesday aged 72, the official Middle East News Agency reported. Sadeq, the second wife of King Farouk, had been admitted to an intensive care

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Former Turkish prime minister Mesut Yilmaz rejected charges of corruption as he went on trial Wednesday over a banking scandal with alleged Mafia involvement, becoming the first head of government to be tried by the

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Frenzied crowds of Lebanese mourners bid farewell to former prime minister Rafiq Hariri on Wednesday at a politically charged funeral that underscored the seething tensions with Syria over his murder. Hundreds of thousands of mourners

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A pre-dawn earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 jolted the Tokyo region on Wednesday, injuring at least 27 people and disrupting early morning transport. No major damage was reported, officials said. Most injuries were caused

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