England boss Roy Hodgson says Sir Alex Ferguson is "a magician" after leading Manchester United to their 20th league title.

The Court of Appeal refuses the government permission to take its fight to remove Abu Qatada from the UK to the Supreme Court.

Fear of kidnap haunts Syria's war-torn streets

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov boasts on the internet that he has given his sports minister a boxing lesson to deal with his poor performance.

The BBC's John Sudworth has been to some of the areas affected by the earthquake in Sichuan on Saturday to look at how the relief effort is progressing

An explosion outside the French embassy in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, wounds two French guards and several residents and causes major damage.

Authorities in Russia are pursuing a man who shot dead six people before fleeing in the south-western city of Belgorod

The US manufacturing sector grew at its slowest pace in six months during April, a survey suggests.

The Bahrain government has postpones indefinitely a visit by Juan Mendez the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture.