AUSTRALIA

The European Union will decide in the coming months whether to start stockpiling raw materials that are critical for the bloc's industrial and high-tech production, an EU spokesman said on Friday.

Elisa Baker, 43, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, with aggravating factors that included desecrating the girl's body to hide her crime.

Researchers say breast and cervical cancers are rising at an alarming rate and the number of new breast cancer cases has increased from about 641,000 cases in 1980 to 1.6 million cases in 2010.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told EU finance ministers on Friday they should end loose talk about a euro zone break-up and work more closely with the European Central Bank to tackle the debt crisis.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed euro zone ministers on Friday to leverage their 440 billion euro bailout fund and free up more resources to tackle a two-year-old debt crisis, a senior euro zone official said.

Breast and cervical cancers kill 625,000 women worldwide every year, reported researchers in the first global review of breast and cervical cancer.

The government of Australia announced on Thursday that it will now offer three gender options for passports, M, F, and X.

With precious little time to rest after their brutal U.S. Open final, world number one Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will be energized by national pride this weekend as they lead their countries into battle in the Davis Cup semi-finals.

Breast cancer is rising at an alarming rate as reported by researchers in the first global review of breast and cervical cancer.

Breast cancer is on rise and the rate is alarming, said researchers in the first global review of breast and cervical cancer.

Asian stocks bounced on Thursday after tentative steps by euro zone policymakers to tackle a crippling debt crisis, but investors remained wary that obstacles the bloc's leaders face could weigh on the euro and Asian currencies in the medium term.

A report released Tuesday by the United Nation's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showed that seizures of cocaine and amphetamine-type stimulants such as ecstasy and meth, have increased dramatically, with 592 kilograms confiscated in 2008-09 compared with 179.5 kilograms just six years prior to the federal findings.

With an estimated global audience of a billion people, The Miss Universe 2011 beauty pageant, the contestants for the 2011 Miss Universe pageant have arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the 60th anniversary of the Miss Universe pageant on Monday night.

The Starz television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand lead actor Andy Whitefield, 39, passed away on Sunday at his home in Sydney after his 18-month fight with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

On Monday, millions of people across the world watched in admiration as Miss Angola, Leila Lopes, was crowned the winner of the 2011 Miss Universe pageant.

Prospects for job seekers are gloomier in most major economies than they were three months ago, as weak U.S. and European economies begin to affect employers' confidence in other parts of the world, according to a quarterly hiring survey by ManpowerGroup.

Asian stocks steadied and the euro held above a seven-month low against the dollar on short-covering on Tuesday, after a report that Italy may get financial support from China lifted Wall Street in late trade but did nothing to ease fears that Europe is descending into a banking crisis.

British actor, Andy Whitfield, who played a main character on Starz network’s “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” died on Sunday after battling Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer for more than a year.

Australia's Sam Stosur tamed her own pounding heart and repelled everything -- both good and bad -- that Serena Williams hurled at her to win the U.S. Open crown and her first grand slam singles title on Sunday.

Whitfield, 39, succumbs to non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Uranium producer Paladin Energy said Monday it has drawn $127 million from a financing facility, to reimburse costs from the expansion at its Langer Heinrich project in Namibia.