The elections for police and crime commissioners "failed both candidates and voters alike", the Electoral Reform Society says.

The Vatican says it will investigate claims Britain's most senior Roman Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, behaved "inappropriately" towards four priests in the 1980s.

Nick Clegg says the Eastleigh by-election remains a close contest between the Lib Dems and the Tories as he urges voters to focus on his party's record in office.

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has to pull out of an expedition across Antarctica hailed as the last great polar challenge because of severe frostbite.

The trial of a man accused of abducting and murdering missing five-year-old April Jones is adjourned for two months.

Madonna beats Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters to be named pop music's top earner on an annual list by trade publication Billboard.

Early figures from Italy's election suggest a lead for the centre-left in the lower house but the centre-right seems to be leading in the Senate.

The family of radical cleric Abu Qatada has won an injunction preventing protesters from demonstrating directly outside their home.