Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has halted plans to impose the death penalty for gay sex, seeking to temper a global backlash led by celebrities such as George Clooney and Elton John.
A car number plate once belonging to George Harrison that was first sold in return for free haircuts could fetch thousands of euro when it is sold at auction.
TWO children were among 41 people on a Russian Aeroflot plane who died after it caught fire as it made an emergency landing at a Moscow airport.
Juliette Binoche and Emmanuelle Beart, two of France's best-loved film stars, have joined more than a thousand figures from showbusiness and the arts who are backing France's "yellow vest" protests.
Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement has piled pressure on its government partner to dump a junior minister under investigation for corruption, in a case that could pull the coalition apart.
Police in Cyprus have found a body in a lake they believe to be the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer who preyed on foreign women for almost three years without detection.
THE corncrake is an iconic and once widespread bird which has all but disappeared from Irish shores after being driven to the brink of extinction by modern farming techniques.
