Republican lawmakers have asked for an investigation into Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z's visit to Cuba for their wedding anniversary.

Bill Gates may be only the second richest man in the world, with a net worth of US$67 billion ($79.7 billion), but he is assuredly the most generous.

Radicals both right and left are sensing that France's political tide is rising in their favour, driven by a President plumbing record unpopularity less than a year after taking office.

Hitherto unseen evidence given to the Chilcot Inquiry by British intelligence has revealed that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was told that Iraq had, at most, only a trivial amount of weapons of mass destruction.

Each time it makes a threatening gesture to its sister in the south, the US and China respond like different parents. But a sibling often knows a troubled child better than either parent, says John Roughan.

The North Korea security crisis will be high on tomorrow's agenda when Prime Minister John Key meets new President of China Xi Jinping on the Chinese tropical island of Hainan, at the Boao Forum for Asia.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will launch a scathing attack on churches and charities that oppose the Government's welfare cuts.

Naomi Long Naomi Long, Westminster MP for east Belfast, is very much a child of her constituency, born into its loyalist backstreets and a committed community worker.

The Princess of Wales pub in Pyla looks as if it has been flatpacked and flown in from a town in the UK, complete with British pensioners who tuck into roast beef.

At first blush the actions of the euro area in seeking to impose a levy on ordinary Cypriot bank depositors made no sense, writes David Mayes.

His upbeat oratory reflected his country's innate optimism, despite the turbulence of the times.

British ministers came under fire over benefit cuts as the independent body representing 1200 English housing associations described the controversial bedroom tax as bad policy.

It has become an ominously frequent ritual. Officials announce that Nelson Mandela, 94, is in hospital.

The deaths of two more asylum seekers off Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island has again focused attention on the complexity of the dangerous crossing.

Prisoner X, the Mossad agent who hanged himself in Israel's highest security prison two years ago, was the country's "biggest traitor" according to a new investigation.

Julia Gillard has elevated two key supporters to the Cabinet, expanded the jobs of three frontbenchers and made four new ministers after a "self-indulgent" leadership dispute.

Cyprus has secured a package of rescue loans in tense, last-ditch negotiations, two EU diplomats said, saving the country from a banking system collapse and bankruptcy.

According to Oxfam, nearly 750,000 people die each year from firearm-related violence.

Will investors keep their money in Cyprus? Or will they trigger a banking collapse and the first ejection from the euro?

Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith supports Anthony Albanese remaining in the Cabinet in the post-leadership ructions reshuffle.

The bats are loose in the parliamentary belfry. But then came the shenanigans from across the ditch, says Kerre McIvor.

Julia Gillard has survived as Australian Prime Minister after ousted predecessor Kevin Rudd refused to stand against her in a sudden leadership spill.

Speculation over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's leadership has reached a new pitch after a sudden shift among MPs dismayed at the state of the Government and the looming defeat of a key media reform package.