A German banker at the centre of a row over comments he made about Jews and Muslims agrees to leave his post, the Bundesbank says.

The government is planning to reduce the annual welfare bill by a further £4bn, Chancellor George Osborne tells the BBC.

A group of US soldiers murdered a number of Afghan civilians and took body parts as trophies, documents released by military officials suggest.

A social worker involved in a County Fermanagh child sex abuse case did not do anything wrong, her employer says.

Rafael Nadal takes on Fernando Verdasco in the US Open night session, with a semi-final against Mikhail Youzhny up for grabs.

An explosive EastEnders storyline which will lead to the departure of Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor, has begun.

A court says federal funding for US stem cell research can continue until a final legal decision on the matter.

Belgium's court rules that recent raids by police probing alleged child sex abuse by Catholic priests were illegal, throwing the investigation into doubt.

MPs back calls for a fresh parliamentary investigation into phone hacking claims after criticism of News of the World journalists.

Police are offering a £10,000 reward in their search for a man wanted in connection with the murder of a teenager in Cardiff.

President Obama calls a small church's plan to burn the Koran a "recruitment bonanza" for al-Qaeda, while Interpol warns a violent response is likely.

MSPs claimed a record amount of expenses last year, with payments totalling almost £11.7m.

A man who texted two lovers with messages of affection on the day he killed his wife of nearly 26 years is jailed for life.

The son of a man killed in the Claudy bombings in 1972 says he does not believe Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness has told the whole truth.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp would find the England job "hard to turn down" should he be asked to replace manager Fabio Capello.

MPs overwhelmingly back keeping UK troops in Afghanistan - the first time they have voted on the issue.

US Marines have boarded and seized a vessel hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, navy officials say.

A carload of suspected Islamist suicide bombers attack Mogadishu airport, killing soldiers and civilians, officials say.

The chair of the Mercury Prize claims that black British female artists are being ignored by the British public.

The chief executive of an NHS trust appears at an inquest into an elderly patient's death after she was summoned by the coroner.