More than 30 million pilgrims are set to bathe on the most auspicious day of India's Kumbh Mela festival, billed as the world's biggest gathering.

France opens criminal proceedings against four men suspected of links with African militants, amid fears of attacks in the wake of the Mali conflict.

Football matches played between British and German soldiers during the Christmas truce of World War I could be recreated for next year's centenary celebrations.

A landmine explodes on a road in Senegal's restive Casamance region, killing a woman and a child as the travelled between two villages.

Nasa's Curiosity rover finally drills deep enough into Martian rock to acquire a powdered sample for analysis - an historic first in planetary exploration.

Gen John Allen, the outgoing commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, says the alliance is on the road to winning the war in the country.

Torrential rain creates havoc along the Pacific coast side of South America, with flooding causing the deaths of at least six people in Peru.

Thousands of people across large swathes of the north-eastern United States and eastern Canada begin to clear up after an intense snow-storm.