A tentative deal in Congress for a £16.9 billion package to rescue the struggling US auto industry is running out of fuel.

The Treasury has given Iceland £2.2 billion to guarantee British deposits at collapsed bank Icesave, it has been disclosed.

A lavish resort which sits on Dubai's man-made island is about to open in spectacular star style.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that Britain would not pay a ransom for the hostages held by pirates off the east African coast.

A Thai elephant has become pregnant after being injected with frozen sperm, boosting hopes in the species' fight against extinction.

The IMF has approved a $2.1 billion loan for Iceland to stabilise what the fund called a "banking crisis of extraordinary proportions".

A grenade attack on protesters occupying the Thai prime minister's office in Bangkok has killed a protester and wounded 23 others.

The Foreign Office is investigating reports that a British tourist was allegedly raped by a teenage monk in Cambodia.

Two Britons on the hijacked oil tanker off the coast of Somalia have been named as Peter French and James Grady.

Al-Qaeda's second-in-command has slammed US president-elect Barack Obama for vowing to back Israel.

A young-mother of two has been given a new wind-pipe in a landmark operation that could change the face of transplant surgery.

A talented British tennis player has been arrested by US police on suspicion of raping a woman at a party.

An astronaut was left helplessly watching her tool bag and everything inside it float away after accidentally dropping it in space.

Barack Obama has pledged the United States will "engage vigorously" in climate change talks when he is president.

Rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have announced a military pullback.

A cholera outbreak in southern Zimbabwe has killed 36 people and put another 400 people in hospital.

A man has been arrested by Spanish police over the death of a British businessman in Barcelona.

Somali pirates who hijacked an oil tanker with 25 crew on board, including two Britons, have opened negotiations.

Obama's fallout with Reverend Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ has local churches vying for his Sunday worship.

Some California residents have returned to their homes to see the devastation caused by the wildfires.

Soccer chiefs in Uruguay have put all championship matches on hold after fans rioted following a top-of-the-league match.

A British couple who had sex on a Dubai beach will find out if their appeal has been successful next week, their lawyer has said.

Swarms of locust are sweeping across rural areas in the Australian state of New South Wales a many farmers prepare to harvest their crops.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband is due to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the latest stage of a visit to the Middle East.

A stock market trader has shot himself on the trading floor of Brazil's main financial exchange.

Somali pirates are still in control of a supertanker with two Britons on board, the US Navy said.

Space shuttle Endeavour has safely docked at the International Space Station after its two-day journey from Earth.

A Japanese whaling ship has left port in southwestern Japan and is aiming at starting the season in Antarctica.

A "top leader" in the Basque separatist rebel group Eta has been arrested in southwestern France, according to French officials.

US President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to regain America's moral stature in the world when he arrives at the White House.

Thousands of Southern Californians have returned home to find their houses burned to the ground.

A Nepalese Gurkha killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan has been named.

A powerful earthquake struck an area off Indonesia, causing a brief tsunami warning.

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has agreed to take part in UN-backed peace talks but fighting has continued.

A suicide car bomber has killed 15 people and wounded 20 in Iraq's northern Diyala province.

Iraq's cabinet has approved a pact allowing US troops to remain in the country for three more years.

Gordon Brown has claimed victory in his campaign for coordinated global action to kick-start the world's ailing economies.

Firefighters in LA are battling wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people into shelters.

Four Palestinian militants have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip

A fast-moving wildfire in suburban Los Angeles is threatening the city's power supply, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said.

US space shuttle Endeavour has soared off its seaside launch pad on a mission to upgrade the International Space Station.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said his efforts to end fighting in Congo were going fairly well.

US President-elect Barack Obama has met former rival Hillary Clinton to discuss offering her a top job in his administration.

A heroic officer killed in Afghanistan complained of equipment shortages to his fiancee just days before his death.

Gordon Brown has claimed that world leaders have backed his blueprint for combating the global slowdown.

Hillary Clinton refuses to comment on talk that President-elect Barack Obama could make her Secretary of State in his new administration.

A wildfire has forced thousands to flee in an exclusive southern California community.

Two Royal Marines killed in Afghanistan have been named as Robert McKibben and Neil Dunstan.

Astronomers have unveiled the first images of other worlds outside our solar system.

Osama bin Laden is cut-off from the day-to-day operations of al-Qaeda and is concentrating his energies on survival, according to the CIA.