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Britain's new health secretary has said he favors reducing the time limit for women to have abortions from 24 to 12 weeks, sparking criticism from opposition lawmakers and women's rights activists....

In a victory for Britain's royal family, a French court Tuesday ordered that published photos of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless be handed over to her and her husband, Prince William, within 24 hours.

Prince William's office says it is reviewing "all proportionate responses" to the planned publication by an Italian gossip magazine of topless photos of William's wife Kate....

The royal family is dealing with yet another nude photo controversy, but one of a very different sort. Closer, a French gossip magazine, has published topless photos of Kate Middleton , formally Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, sunbathing on the terrace of a private home in the south of France where she and husband Prince William, formally the Duke of Cambridge, vacationed.

The trial of a former trader accused of causing the largest unauthorised loss in British history - £1.4bn at UBS - will start later.

US prosecutors are looking into whether British bank HSBC was involved in laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and moving cash for Saudi Arabian banks with ties to terrorists, The New York Times reported Saturday.

British soldiers in Afghanistan are being forced to act as bait in an attempt to draw the Taliban into opening fire, a serving platoon commander has alleged. Soldiers are risking their lives to get round strict rules of engagement that allow them to shoot only if they are being attacked or are in "imminent danger".

Britain said on Sunday it remained committed to reaching a diplomatic solution to the presence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Ecuador's London embassy, after both countries took steps to defuse a row over his action in taking refuge there.

The U.K. economy isn't as deeply in recession as thought, revised official figures showed, though analysts cautioned its economy in still in dire straits.

The prince has no clothes - but British newspapers aren't running the pictures. The country's scandal-loving tabloids devoted many pages Thursday to the story of Prince Harry's naked romp in a Las Vegas hotel suite. But all heeded a warning from royal officials that printing the images, already seen by millions on the Internet, would infringe on the prince's privacy.