
A look at prolific Twitter accounts
Pope Benedict XVI hit the 1 million Twitter follower mark on Wednesday as he sent his first tweet from his new account. In amassing an army of ...

Cops, British Army guided Belfast lawyer's killing
British police and army agents planted inside Northern Ireland's major Protestant gang played a pivotal role in assassinating a Belfast attorney, a ...

Greece to buy back 31.9 billion euros of bonds
Greece will buy back €31.9 billion ($41.5 billion) of its bonds from private investors at a third of their nominal price, the debt agency said ...

Germany approves bill to protect male circumcision
German lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday that explicitly permits male infant circumcision, ending months of legal uncertainty after a court ruling ...

UN court convicts Bosnian Serb of genocide
A U.N. war crimes court convicted a former senior Bosnian Serb army commander Wednesday of genocide for playing a key role in Europe's worst massacre ...
UK officer punished for passing nuclear secrets
A Royal Navy petty officer who worked on nuclear submarines was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for passing secrets to British agents ...

Barclays appoints ex-regulator as compliance head
Barclays has appointed the former chief of Britain's financial regulator to the new role of head of compliance at the scandal-hit U.K. bank. The move, ...

Pope hits 1M mark as he tweets: 'Dear Friends... '
Pope Benedict XVI hit the 1 million Twitter follower mark on Wednesday as he sent his first tweet from his new account, blessing his online fans and ...

Swiss opera diva Della Casa dies at 93
Famed for her beauty that matched her serene voice, Swiss-born diva Lisa Della Casa swept up crowds at opera houses of the past century with an ...
Mick Jagger love letters sell for $300,000
Jumpin' Jack Flash! A batch of love letters written by Mick Jagger to a 1960s muse have sold at auction for 187,250 pounds ($301,472). Sotheby's says ...

Review: Kaufmann triumphs as La Scala's Lohengrin
This Lohengrin is no knight in shining armor, confidently riding in on a swan to defend a beautiful maiden. No, the barefoot hero on view at La Scala ...

German opposition: have banks finance rescue fund
Germany's main opposition parties are proposing that banks should pay at least €200 billion ($260 billion) into a new European rescue fund rather than ...

Amsterdam to ban smoking pot in school
Amsterdam's mayor said Wednesday he would formally ban students from smoking marijuana at school, making the Dutch capital the first city in the ...
All signs point toward Watson as Ryder Cup captain
In the two months since a stunning loss in the Ryder Cup, the PGA of America talked about doing things differently when selecting its next captain.

Eurozone industrial output in surprise slump
Industrial production across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro unexpectedly slumped in October, official figures showed Wednesday, in ...
Spain arrests woman with cocaine breast implants
Spanish authorities say they have arrested a Panamanian woman arriving at Barcelona airport with 1.38 kilograms (3 pounds) of cocaine concealed in ...

Critics savage Spice Girls stage musical
The critics have spoken — "Viva Forever" did not spice up their lives. British reviewers were scathing Wednesday about the big-budget stage show built ...

Bank aid money arrives in Spain
The Spanish government said Wednesday that the €39.5 billion ($51.3 billion) in bailout funds approved by European authorities for the country's ...

Global corporate deals nearly halved in 5 years
The value of mergers and acquisitions deals around the world in 2012 was nearly half the amount made five years ago, when the financial crisis first ...
China revokes new Shanghai Catholic bishop's title
In a fresh challenge to Vatican authority, China has revoked the title of a new Catholic bishop in Shanghai who outraged Chinese officials by ...
UK unemployment by biggest amount since 2001
Official data shows that unemployment in the United Kingdom dropped to 7.8 percent in the three months to October as the number of jobless fell by its ...
Porsche breaks its own sales record
German sports car maker Porsche AG says it has already broken last year's record sales number with one month left in 2012. The company, which is now ...
Zara owner Inditex sees 9-month profit up 27 pct
Spanish clothes retailer Inditex, which owns the Zara store chain, has posted a 27 percent increase in net profit for the first nine months of 2012 ...

Asia stocks gain, unfazed by NKorea rocket launch
Asian stock markets rose Wednesday as a German business confidence survey alleviated concerns that Europe's largest economy might fall into recession.
US to announce next Ryder Cup captain
The PGA of America is bringing a mystery guest to the "Today" show — its next Ryder Cup captain. Golf Digest reported on its website Tuesday night ...