Missing ministers a threat to London summit

The triumph of the Afghan parliament’s voting power is little consolation to those desperate for an end to political limbo

White House cuisine put to the reality test

Michelle Obama uses a popular television cooking show to help her campaign to promote healthy meals for children

'Orchard of Yemeni fighters' grows from poverty

A military approach to stop the terrorists may send more Yemenis, already wary of Western intervention, over to al-Qaeda

Alan McMenemy 'may still be alive'

The fate of the final hostage kidnapped alongside Peter Moore and three other Britons is expected to be known within days

Passion that separates Africa from the West

The case of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga highlights how the issue of homosexuality has divided cultures

Arrested Somali linked to plot to kill Clinton

The man who broke into the home of the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was earlier held by the Kenyan authorities

President Zuma prepares to wed fifth wife

Tobeka Madiba already has two children with the South African leader, who is rumoured to be lining up a sixth wife

No way out as snows storms paralyse Beijing

Hundreds of flights cancelled and main roads to and from the capital shut as forecasters predict temperatures of -16C

Body of fifth hostage 'may be released in days'

Iraqi group prepares to release Alan McMenemy, who British officials insist is dead, in exchange for militant cleric

Mexican police arrest alleged drug lord

Fears of new turf war after Carlos Beltran Leyva is captured two weeks after his brother was killed in a shootout

Afghan MPs reject Karzai cabinet nominees

Afghanistan thrown into new political uncertainty after parliament rejects most of President Karzai's proposed ministers

Can the West avoid Russia's fate in Afghanistan?

Two former war heroes say the same mistakes are being made

World in Brief

Art thieves net Picasso | Saudi plea | Lava threat in Congo | Mud kills 64 in Rio de Janeiro

The new Al-Qaeda chiefs terrorising the world

Long a source of jihadis, Yemen has become fertile ground for extremists looking to take up the mantle of Osama Bin Laden

Haleh Esfandiari: I would not let them break me

Accused by Iran of aiding a US plot, this grandmother was flung into Evin jail. She tells her story in My Prison, My Home

MI5 knew of bomber’s UK links

Security services knew three years ago that the Detroit bomber had 'multiple communications' with British Muslim extremists

What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth

British scientists claim that there is no evidence for the existence of the G-spot outside the imagination of women

Temptress snagged by insider trading scandal

Danielle Chiesi, a former beauty queen, emerges at the centre of one of the biggest scandals to hit Wall Street for decades

British gallery in secret Chagall scoop

The London Jewish Museum of Art picked up a painting worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in Paris for just over £25,000

France say sorry for pimping charges

Mikhail Prokhorov was celebrating in 2007 with close friends and a posse of young women when he was arrested for soliciting