Works by British sculptor Henry Moore and Spanish painter Joan Miro sold for record prices at a Christie's sale that also saw a Van Gogh owned by Elizabeth Taylor fetch over £10 million.   more

The entire Netherlands is on a knife's edge this week, holding its breath to see whether a near-mythical ultra ice skating race on frozen canals will become a reality for the first time in 15 years.   more

A US federal appeals court struck down a California law that strips gays and lesbians of the right to marry in the latest round of America's long-running battle over same-sex marriage.   more

A home-filmed video showing a four-year-old Chinese boy being forced by his parents to run almost naked through the snow in bitterly cold New York has gone viral and sparked an online uproar.   more

Britain has marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens with the laying of a wreath at his grave in Westminster Abbey in London and a street party in his native Portsmouth.   more

Myanmar is poised to adopt a new media law that could sweep away half a century of heavy-handed censorship, as an increasingly impatient press cautiously test the boundaries of newly-won freedoms.   more

Perfectly sculpted bodies lie poolside at The Glen, a guesthouse that's the first listing on the Pink Map to Cape Town, handed out at the airport for the 225,000 gay tourists who visit every year.   more

Later this month, India will be removed from a dwindling list of countries where polio is considered endemic, a huge achievement made possible by people like Madara, a 76-year-old street hawker.   more

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is reuniting with the Swiss architects with whom he created Beijing's spectacular Bird's Nest Stadium, to build a pavilion for this year's London Olympics.   more

Fleeing NATO bombardment and Taliban intimidation, thousands of Afghans in refugee camps in the capital Kabul face a new enemy: an unusually bitter winter that is killing their children.   more

US presidential historian Barry Landau, known for his huge collection of memorabilia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and the theft of dozens of historical documents, US officials said.   more

US cooking star Paula Deen, self-proclaimed "Queen of Southern Cuisine" famous for her dishes smothered in butter, has met a storm of outrage after revealing she has diabetes and is hawking a drug to treat the disease.   more

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has alerted police to an online stalker -- a "deluded weirdo" issuing threats over Twitter, she wrote on the micro-blogging site on Tuesday.   more