A UK-wide consultation on government plans to introduce mandatory plain packaging for tobacco, which attracted strong public interest, will close later.

Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi is expected to be named the new UN envoy for Syria, diplomats say, a week after the resignation of Kofi Annan.

South Korea's president visits islands also claimed by Japan, media reports say, in a move set to raise diplomatic tensions.

Convicted serial killer Peter Tobin is taken to hospital after it is thought he suffered a heart attack.

A Derbyshire police commissioner hopeful becomes the second Labour candidate in two days to stand down over a previous criminal offence.

Senior police officers are urging ministers to change the law to allow people to stand as candidates for police commissioners even if they were convicted as a child.

Shares in Manchester United begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $14.05, up slightly from the float price of $14.

Mel Stuart, the director of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, dies at his Beverly Hills home.