Carla Bruni, the singer-wife of President Sarkozy, vouched for the fidelity of her husband today after some foreign media reported French internet gossip suggesting that their marriage was in difficulty.

The father of a five-year-old British boy held captive in Pakistan has returned to the UK, sources said today.

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican", according to the Holy See's chief exorcist.

Three leading Swedish newspapers and the national broadcaster today carried a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body after an alleged plot to murder the artist was unveiled in Ireland.

Security forces have shot dead two people in the central Nigerian city of Jos as tensions continue after Sunday's sectarian massacre.

Security forces have shot dead two people in the central Nigerian city of Jos as tensions continue after Sunday's sectarian massacre.

A blonde American woman who went under the online alias "Jihad Jane" has been accused of plotting to murder a Swedish cartoonist for drawing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, it emerged today.

Hundreds of Tibetans were rounded up in Lhasa today and armed paramilitaries patrolled the streets even as Tibetan exiles marked the anniversary of an abortive 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Suspected Islamic militants stormed the offices of a Christian charity in northwestern Pakistan today, killing five local staff in an attack that will further complicate aid work in the volatile region.

An elephant calf was born at a zoo in Sydney this morning just days after staff were mourning its death in the womb.

After two days of chaotic scenes in India's parliament, its upper house has overwhelmingly approved an historic bill that would reserve one third of seats in the national and state legislatures for women.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned Burmese democracy leader, will be forced to quit her political party and banned from taking part in elections, under new laws published today by the country’s military dictatorship.

China has hit back at a report in The Times that it is behind a surge in international cyber attacks, saying that it is as much a victim of such attacks as any other country and opposes internet warfare.

After a month in quarantine the American-born panda Tai Shan explored his new home in southwest China when he was put on public display for the first time since his much-anticipated arrival.

Japan lied for almost half a century about secret agreements to allow visits by nuclear-armed American naval ships, according to a government report.

The Pope’s brother gave a rare insight yesterday into a pervasive culture of violence at Roman Catholic institutions, admitting that he hit children while he was choirmaster at a German boarding school.

Seven people have been arrested in the Republic of Ireland over a suspected plot to kill a Swedish artist who portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a dog and had a $100,000 ($£66,000) al-Qaeda bounty on his head.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland will today appeal for an end to the infighting and personal attacks which have marred her first 100 days as the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

Prince Ernst August of Hanover, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, was fined €200,000 (£181,000) in Germany yesterday for assaulting a hotel manager a decade ago.

President Obama’s troubled and marathon effort to reform the US health industry took a bizarre twist yesterday after a Democratic congressman said he was lambasted over the issue by a naked White House chief of staff in a men’s locker room.

Road signs warning drivers that drunken people may be in the road have been put up to reduce the number of accidents.

Israel announced the construction of 1,600 homes in east Jerusalem yesterday, even as Joe Biden, the US Vice-President, spent his second day in the country trying to kick-start the peace process.

British diplomats have expressed serious concerns to the US State Department at least three times over Washington’s response to the latest dispute over the Falkland Islands, The Times has learnt.

Canadian lawmakers are to protest against the European Union’s ban on seal imports today — with their stomachs.

The two front-runners in Iraq’s national election both claimed victory yesterday after the authorities postponed announcing the result.