Emanuelle Degli Esposti

Priests exchanged blows at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity over plans for the Orthodox Christmas in January.

Dec 29, 2011

Protesters against Syrian president freed as reports surface of deaths in Hama city.

Dec 28, 2011

Convicted sex offender Michael Plumador posted photos of murdered Aliahna Lemmon and her sisters only weeks before he killed her with a brick and dismembered her body.

Dec 28, 2011

Arab monitors anger anti-Assad protesters by saying 'not overly concerned' by Homs violence.

Dec 28, 2011

Funeral cortege for 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il passes through frozen streets of Pyongyang.

Dec 28, 2011

In a country where military strongmen have long been key to the regime's vice-like grip on power, the succession of Kim Jong-un looks set to follow this pattern of a political and military power coalition.

Dec 23, 2011

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth office has said Iranian authorities have blocked access to an official website "UK in Iran" .

Dec 22, 2011

Indigenous Maya people in southern Mexico Wednesday began a year-long countdown to Dec. 21 2012, which some believe will bring the end of the world.

Dec 22, 2011

With scuffles over the Muslim call to prayer, controversy over women's rights and accusations about freedom of expression being stifled, what is happening to diversity and tolerance in the state of Israel?

Dec 22, 2011

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that 'provocateurs and extremists' will not be permitted to 'divide Russian society'.

Dec 22, 2011

A lesbian couple serving in the U.S. Navy have become the first openly gay couple to share the traditional dockside "first kiss" since the lifting of a ban on homosexuals in the U.S. army.

Dec 22, 2011

An artist shortlisted for the prestigious Lacoste Elysée photography prize has accused the French clothing brand of censoring her work because it is 'too pro- Palestinian.'

Dec 21, 2011

Filipino residents start gruelling task of rebuilding their lives after storms devastated two southern islands and left more than 1,000 dead.

Dec 21, 2011

The body of Vaclav Havel, a former dissident playwright and Czechoslovakia's first post-communist president, has been transported to Prague Castle, where it will lie in state for a period of official mourning until his funeral service on Friday.

Dec 21, 2011

New North Korea leader Kim Jong-un to share collective rule with military and not have the full powers of father.

Dec 21, 2011

Tests show religious icon alleged to be burial shroud of Christ 'could not have been faked by medieval science'.

Dec 21, 2011

The body of longtime North Korea dictator Kim Jong-il has been displayed in an open coffin in the capital Pyongyang.

Dec 20, 2011

Mourners and well-wishers have gathered to pay their respects to the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, whose body has been displayed in an open coffin on Tuesday.

Dec 20, 2011

North Koreans vent their sorrow and grief at the passing of their 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il.

Dec 19, 2011

How does North Korean mourning compare to mass grief at death of Kim Il-sung in 1994?

Dec 19, 2011

The death of North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-il has triggered a military alert in bordering South Korea, which has a long history of conflict with its secretive neighbour.

Dec 19, 2011

The Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris has become the latest target in a wave of Catholic demonstrations across France against what they call "blasphemous" plays.

Dec 09, 2011

Pop diva Mariah Carey gave the thumbs-up to the men and women of the Royal Navy after the crew of HMS Ocean turned one of her songs into a hit online video.

Dec 09, 2011

At least 73 people have been killed and many more injured in a fire that broke out in a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta (Kolkata).

Dec 09, 2011

At least five UN members of a UN peace delegation and a Lebanese civilian have been injured in a bomb blast in southern Lebanon.

Dec 09, 2011

The new government in Libya has said it will allow British police to begin fresh investigations into the Lockerbie bombing and the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher.

Dec 09, 2011

A prominent Zionist rabbi is facing trial in Jerusalem's Magistrate's Court on charges of forcible sexual assault.

Dec 08, 2011

The cost of British military intervention in Libya has been revealed as £212 million from 19 March to 31 October, amounting to a spending of nearly £1 million a day.

Dec 08, 2011

The government of the Maldives has temporarily banned the depositing of more rubbish onto an artificial island used for dumping garbage over fears that it is overflowing.

Dec 08, 2011