An elderly Australian couple were unwittingly used as drug mules in a ruse involving a free trip to Canada, Australian police reveal.

A senior Islamist militant who was the target of a recent abortive US special forces raid in Somalia had spent time in the UK, his friends tell the BBC.

Singer Manolo Escobar, whose best-selling track Y Viva Espana became part of Spain's cultural identity in the 1970s, dies in Benidorm.

Ethiopia's government has temporarily banned its citizens from travelling abroad to look for work, the state-run Erta news agency reports.

The gender gap is narrowing across the world, a World Economic Forum report suggests, with Nordic countries leading the way but Arab nations lagging behind.

Dozens of people are injured in an explosion and fire at a sweet factory in the northern Mexico city of Ciudad Juarez, officials say.

Greenland gives UK-based London Mining a 30-year licence to build and operate an iron ore mine, employing up to 3,000 mainly Chinese workers.

A high court in China is set to rule on the appeal of top politician Bo Xilai, jailed for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.