February 23, 2013 BAMAKO: Fighting has resumed in the northern Malian city of Gao as the army clashed with insurgents who entered the area on Wednesday, according to the mayor, Sadou Diallo.

February 23, 2013 Hilary Mantel's remarks about the duchess drew ire from the British press, writes John F. Burns.

February 23, 2013 LIMASSOL, Cyprus: A Hezbollah operative who worked as a courier for the group in Europe said at his trial on Thursday that he had instructions to record the arrival times of passenger flights from Israel to Cyprus, prompting Israel to press the EU to formally declare the militant group a terrorist organisation.

February 23, 2013 A jailed people smuggler says he was set up by the main players, writes Michael Bachelard.

February 23, 2013 LONDON: Abandoned cats may soon be sharing cafe space with Londoners starved of feline affection if an Australian woman has her way.

February 23, 2013 THE Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, has walked away from a written undertaking to raise the case of Julian Assange in talks with the Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, next week.

February 23, 2013 A pair of emerging Australian artists took on a challenging concept, art gallery as supermarket, in a unique fair in Sweden, writes Stephen A. Russell.

February 22, 2013 A patient admitted to hospital in Saudi Arabia with a new virus from the same family as SARS has died, taking the global death toll from the previously unknown disease to seven.

February 22, 2013 Hundreds of Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli security forces as demonstrations in support of hunger striking prisoners sparked growing unrest across the West Bank.

February 22, 2013 The venue for Australia's second Test against India starting next week, has been hit by bombings that killed at least a dozen people.