Venezuela's new Twitter convert President Hugo Chavez praised the micro-blogging site and invited Cuba's Fidel Castro to join.

Scouting conjures up images of trips away to earn badges in caving and camping. But in the US a new award has been made: video gaming

German financial and industrial firms will contribute to a multi-billion euro bailout for Greece, a senior banking source has said.

A man has burned himself to death after injuring five children with a hammer at a nursery class.

Leaders of anti-government protesters in Thailand have apologised after more than 200 "red shirts" forced their way into a hospital.

An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has spread out of control and started washing ashore along the Gulf Coast and Mississippi River delta.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been assisting members of a research expedition studying endangered polar bears.

A massive oil spill is expected to hit the sourthern US coast after the governor of Louisiana declared a state of emergency.

A tense standoff remains in Bangkok, after violence between troops and anti-government protesters left one soldier dead.

Thirty-one people have been injured following a stabbing in a nursery in eastern China.