Nearly 70 political prisoners were freed yesterday, days after the Burmese President, Thein Sein, promised to free all who remain behind bars for opposing the government by the year’s end.

On the streets of Amman where Britain’s Public Enemy No 1 grew up, Fernande van Tets discovers a very different view of him

The leader of France’s far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, was stripped of her parliamentary immunity, opening the way for charges of inciting racial hatred to be laid against her.

How extraordinary for a man - a stranger to most of us - to engender such warmth and respect that so many grown-ups feel bereft at the thought of his passing

The rich can have different sensibilities from the rest of us. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a relative of the King of Saudi Arabia and reputedly the world’s richest Arab, has been deeply offended by Forbes Magazine placing him 26th on its rich list, with an estimated wealth of $20 billion.

Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster-turned-Russian opposition politician, has said that he will not return to Russia in the foreseeable future as he fears arrest.

Sant’Antonin Church, 55th Venice Biennale

What is believed to be a bomb found by police investigating the attempt to murder three officers in West Belfast has been taken away, police said.

A year on from Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin, thousands of Muscovites rallied in a central Moscow square to protest against his rule. “Putin is a thief!” was a popular chant at the rally. “We are fighting for Russia, for our country, our future,” said Gennady Gudkov a former MP who has been stripped of his mandate since joining the opposition movement.

A military pilot sent by Eritrea to Saudi Arabia to reclaim a jet stolen by two fellow officers when they flew to seek asylum has herself defected.

The Nobel peace laureate and spiritual leader crossed the city's symbolic peace bridge

The pair were greeted by big crowds as they strolled through Havana

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of dissident republican terrorist activity, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said.

Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, has said that all political prisoners are to be released in the latest sign of an easing of political tensions within the country and with South Sudan.