UNITED KINGDOM

While the United Kingdom has finally joined the rest of Europe in first-class dining -- just look at all the mouth-watering dishes Steve Coogan puts away in The Trip -- the old joke was that airplane food was the national cuisine of England. And it's that world of tinned vegetables and pork pies that made a foodie out of chef and author Nigel Slater, whose memoir is the basis for Toast.

Abdulfattah John Jandali never met the son he gave up for adoption approximately 50 years ago, but he knew a man called Steve Jobs was a great innovator.

Here are some key quotes from Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple Inc (AAPL.O), who died on Wednesday after a years-long battle with cancer.

AstraZeneca Plc said on Thursday it will cut about 400 jobs from its U.S. commercial business as Britain's second-largest drugmaker seeks to reduce costs.

Singer Shakira has a long history of working for education opportunities for Latino children.

Shares of OCZ Technology Group (OCZ.O) rose almost 19 percent in early morning trade on Thursday, a day after the computer memory and storage hardware maker raised its full-year revenue outlook and said it will acquire the UK design team of PLX Technology Inc (PLXT.O).

Rooney Jr.’s uncle Richie, as well as Motherwell midfielder Steve Jennings were similarly arrested.

Microsoft has released a trailer highlighting the perks of the Xbox's latest transformation from a games console into a full- fledged multimedia venture that's brings cable television to the 360 console.

Ghana is likely to miss its target of boosting oil production to 120,000 barrels per day by the end of the year due to technical challenges, the head of state oil company GNPC said on Thursday, marking a second delay.

The Archbishop Bishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wants to meet Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe during his visit to Africa and call on him to end a violent suppression of the Anglican Church and its priests in the country.

The European Central Bank reinstated some of its most potent crisis-fighting tools on Thursday in response to intensifying euro zone troubles, but opted to keep interest rates at 1.5 percent despite some of the bank's policymakers calling for cuts.

The Bank of England will spend 75 billion pounds more of newly-created money to shield Britain's economy from the euro zone debt crisis and keep a faltering recovery going, opting for an early, dramatic move to maximize the impact.

U.S. aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin said on Thursday it will offer final assembly of the F-35 fighter to Japanese firms in a bid for a defense contract from Tokyo.

Top seed Rafa Nadal ran hard-serving Canadian Milos Raonic ragged in a 7-5 6-3 victory to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open on Thursday.

The Bank of England has launched a second round of quantitative easing to defend Britain's faltering economy against the euro zone debt crisis, pledging to buy 75 billion pounds ($114.8 billion) of assets with new money in a dramatic move to stave off recession.

Siri, iPhone 4S' new voice recognition software, was first used by the government before focusing on consumer applications.

The complicated love affairs of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal doctor, became public at the high-profile involuntary manslaughter trial of the doctor when, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, the doctor's three mistresses took the witness stand.

The European Central Bank sees intensified threats to the euro zone economy and will provide struggling banks with longer-term liquidity to ward off a new credit crunch, President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday.

The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) said it will eliminate 2,000 jobs and drastically revamp programming in an effort to reduce costs by 20 percent over the next five years. The company plans to cut its budget by £670 million ($1 billion) per year.

The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold on Thursday as broadly expected and is expected to launch a set of fresh liquidity measures to help banks to weather the euro zone's worsening debt storm.

The European Union's executive proposed coordinated recapitalization of banks on Thursday as the bloc's regulators met to review capital buffers of stressed lenders.