Nelson Mandela, South Africa's anti-apartheid icon, dies aged 95

Nelson Mandela, the global statesman who delivered South Africa from the dark days of apartheid, has died aged 95.
 Mr Mandela had suffered from a series of lung infections over the past two years and died at home in the company of his family.

US lawsuit wants chimps to be treated as ‘legal persons’

Walking, talking chimpanzees may be TV comedy gold but now three courts in New York are being asked to recognize four chimps as "legal persons" with fundamental rights.

US President Barack Obama used a youth event to promote his signature healthcare plan while ruing that he is not allowed to keep an iPhone because of security reasons, unlike his two daughters who spend a lot of time on the popular Apple gadget.

"Now, I am not allowed, for security reasons, to have an iPhone. I don't know what your bills are. I have noticed that Sasha and Malia seem to spend a lot of time on it," Obama said in his remarks at a youth summit at the White House on Wednesday.

Germany to ban 'flat-rate' sex offers in brothels

Next German government plans to ban 'flat-rate sex' offers in brothels amid fears industry has got "out of hand" since 2002 legalisation

 Germany's biggest political parties have agreed to ban so-called flat-rate sex offered by some brothels in the country.

British ambassador backs 'mob free' guide to Italy

Christoper Prentice, the UK ambassador to Italy, backs the first English translation of a guide book that lists and promotes 1,000 Italian shops and businesses which are “mob free”

 Southern Italian shopkeepers struggling against violent demands from local mafia clans for protection money have found an unexpected ally in the British ambassador to Italy.