Six months ago, nobody gave the opposition Liberal Party any chance of winning but its leader, Tony Abbott, has been able to benefit from turmoil in the Labour ranks and it is producing an unexpectedly tight election.

President Felipe Calderon of Mexico has defended his strategy in the fight against drugs gangs, saying that rising levels of violence did not mean the war was being lost.

Moscow’s health chief has confirmed that the mortality rate has doubled as a heatwave and wildfire smog continue to grip the Russian capital.

The lawyer representing Charles Taylor at the Hague has accused Naomi Campbell’s former agent of telling „a pack of lies” in her evidence.

More than 700 people are now known to have died in a massive landslide in north-west China.

A customer was so frustrated that she couldn’t order chicken nuggets that she attacked the member of staff.

Mongolian boxer Badar Uugan Enkhbatyn eyes second Olympic gold.

Pakistani Marines have been working round the clock to rescue villagers trapped by the region’s worst deluge in 80 years.

More than 700 people are confirmed dead after Saturday’s landslides in north-west China, and more than 1,000 are still missing.

The UN secretary general’s special envoy in Pakistan has said that widespread flooding is the “biggest catastrophe” the country has ever faced.