UNITED KINGDOM

Controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be a guest character and voice on animated TV comedy The Simpsons, playing a neighbor of the family after they move from their home in fictional Springfield.

Asian shares and the euro rose on Tuesday after Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos raised hopes that a deal would be reached this week to avoid a potentially chaotic debt default, but worries over Portugal's refinancing ability capped gains.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have taken the upper hand in escalating battles on the outskirts of the capital Damascus while top Western and Arab diplomats are seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for him to go.

Mexicans have been overcharged $13.4 billion a year for phone and internet services as the industry dominated by billionaire Carlos Slim gouges customers and keeps the economy from growing, a study released on Monday said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel cemented her political ascendancy in Europe Monday when 25 out of 27 EU states agreed to a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline, even as they struggled to rekindle growth from the ashes of austerity.

ASUS unveiled its new Transformer Prime HD TF700Tat CES 2012, boasting an ultra high resolution screen that is set to rival some laptops, but Transformer Prime enthusiasts need to hold tight as the tablet won't be released until June.

Who is Richard O'Dwyer, the man whose extradition case was the subject of the most popular question asked during the lead-up to Obama's Google+ Hangout and addressed directly by the president during his social-media forum Monday night?

Ian Abercrombie, who played Elaine's boss Mr. Pitt on 'Seinfeld' from 1994 to 1998, died Thursday at the age of 77. He had recently been diagnosed with lymphoma, but the Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai Medical Center says Abercrombie died from complications of kidney failure.

British tourists Leigh Van Bryan probably did not expect his trip to the U.S. to involve handcuffs and a jail cell; but that is where he ended up. The security happened over tweets sent by Van Bryan stating they would go and destroy Americaand diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!

More than a year after a wave of popular uprisings swept across the Arab world, the White House spent Monday responding to the chaos the Arab Spring has unleashed in Syria and Egypt.

Weakness in banks and commodity stocks dragged Britain's leading share index lower on Monday as the protracted search for a Greek bond deal and concerns about economic growth kept investors nervous.

Weakness in banks and commodity stocks dragged Britain's leading share index lower on Monday as the protracted search for a Greek bond deal and concerns about economic growth kept investors nervous.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced Monday that his charitable foundation will contribute $363 million over the next five years to the fight to stop neglected tropical diseases worldwide.

Margaret Thatcher: The One and Only

Although honor killings are typically associated with Muslim countries like Turkey, Iraq and especially Pakistan, the practice has nothing to do with Islam

Confidence in the euro zone's economy strengthened in January for the first time since early 2011, EU data showed on Monday, but a recovery in Germany masked a deterioration in France and Italy, highlighting the bloc's diverging fortunes.

The latest footage, which was uploaded on the YouTube late in December 2011, has already been watched by nearly two million people.

Confidence in the euro zone's economy strengthened in January for the first time since early 2011, EU data showed on Monday, but a recovery in Germany masked a deterioration in France and Italy in a sign of the bloc's diverging fortunes.

China intends to establish Shanghai as the global centre for yuan trading, clearing and pricing over the next three years as part of broader plans to make the commercial hub an international financial centre by 2020.

EU leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone at a summit on Monday and are expected to agree on a balanced budget rule in national legislation, with unresolved problems in Greece casting a shadow on the discussions.

Regulators in Britain and Switzerland may take steps against bank UBS for shortfalls in oversight that allowed an alleged rogue trader to run up a huge loss, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter.