A British man has set a new Guinness World Record by becoming the first person to visit all 193 countries of the United Nations - without using a plane.

The family of a British tourist murdered in Sri Lanka in 2011 are calling for progress in bringing the suspected attackers to trial.

The US Congress will reconvene in a rare Sunday session in a last ditch effort to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

Public confidence in the police has been hurt by a "dangerous cocktail" of controversies including the critical Hillsborough report and Andrew Mitchell "plebgate" row, a senior MP has warned.

Militants in north-west Pakistan have killed at least 20 of the paramilitaries they seized from a checkpoint near Peshawar, officials say.

A village post office could not pay pensions or benefits for 11 days over Christmas after its broadband connection was cut off.

An exhibition in New York is celebrating the iconic fashion of Hollywood star Katharine Hepburn.

The compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary have spoken about what new words from 2012 could be featuring in the next edition.

Millions of people cut back on their Christmas shopping in 2012 or struggled to pay for it, according to the consumer group Which?.

A guided tour of the nuclear facility near Berlin which stored Soviet missiles targeting Western Europe.

More than two million people are expected to be on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

A judge in Chile has ordered the arrest of eight former army officers over the murder 39 years ago of well-known left-wing singer Victor Jara.

Elephants in Nepal and their trainers compete for prizes at a beauty pageant, which is used to highlight conservation programmes.

Five scientists share their thoughts on how science is presented in films and on television

A Russian passenger plane has crashed into a main road after overshooting a runway at a Moscow airport, killing at least four people, police say.

Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami last year.

Research is under way to see if specially-trained dogs could help heal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The south-eastern Spanish town of Ibi has held its annual flour fight - or Els Enfarinats - festival.

Indian police are appealing for calm as crowds gather on the streets of Delhi to mourn the death of the young medical student who was gang-raped and died from her injuries.

British artists are celebrating an unusually successful year in the American charts in 2012.