UK - Britain's first gay fathers have announced that they are having a fourth child on Valentine's Day. Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow sparked outrage when they used donated eggs and surrogate mothers in the USA to have their nine-year-old twins Aspen and Saffron and five-year-old son Orlando.
INDIA - An Indian non-governmental organisation says samples of Coca-Cola and Pepsi products are showing even worse levels of pesticides than in a previous study. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said their investigations revealed that the drinks contain harmful residues, posing a health risk.
UK - Nearly 900 workers constructing a new plant at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire have been sacked, following unofficial strike action. About 1,200 contract workers walked out last week in a dispute over 51 redundancies.
UK - An eco-warrior has been evicted from the cave he lives in on his allotment patch in Brighton, East Sussex, because it doesn't have a fire exit.
UK - A criminal trial is to be heard without a jury for the first time in England and Wales after attempts to prosecute a suspected gang of armed robbers was allegedly hit by jury nobbling.
BRUSSELS - European Union leaders agreed in principle on Thursday on tighter rules to supervise banks and on the creation of regional regulatory bodies to help prevent another global economic crisis, EU presidency sources said.
IRAN - More than 100,000 people have attended a "day of mourning" rally in Tehran to remember eight people killed while opposing Iran's election result. The rally was called by presidential challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
WASHINGTON - Norfolk-based group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter-in-chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House. PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, A DEVICE THAT ALLOWS USERS TO TRAP A HOUSE FLY AND THEN RELEASE IT OUTSIDE.
WASHINGTON - The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said.
YEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA - The global financial crisis has reduced the differences between nations and created the opportunity to form a new world order, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday.
LYBIA - "Thirteen cases of the plague have been recorded in a village 30 kilometres (20 miles) away from Tobruk. Eleven people have already (been treated and) left hospital," he said, without reporting any deaths.
BRUSSELS - EU leaders are set to grapple with two particularly thorny issues at a summit in Brussels - the Lisbon Treaty and how to tighten financial regulation. The leaders also have the easier task of nominating the conservative Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as EU Commission president.
GERMANY - Shoppers in Germany will soon be able to buy gold as easily as bars of chocolate after a firm announced plans to install vending machines selling the precious metal across the country.
UK - A group of witches is claiming religious discrimination after church leaders banned them from using its social club.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - A Florida tent city for hundreds of homeless people lies at the end of a dead-end street, but residents say they have not given up hope of a better life despite the US economic downturn.