More than 200 rockets fall in space of three hours on opposition-controlled suburb of Baba Amr, according to residents

The Assad government escalated its military onslaught on the Syrian opposition with the most intense bombardment of rebel-held areas so far, as the west and the Arab world scrambled to find a new diplomatic strategy without Russian and Chinese help.

Tanks and heavy artillery were used on an unprecedented scale, according to witnesses. More than 200 rockets fell in the space of...

Exclusive: Nashi runs web of online trolls and bloggers paid to praise Vladimir Putin and denigrate enemies, group claims

A pro-Kremlin group runs a network of internet trolls, seeks to buy flattering coverage of Vladimir Putin and hatches plans to discredit opposition activists and media, according to private emails allegedly hacked by a group calling itself the Russian arm of Anonymous.

The group has uploaded hundreds of emails it says are to, from and between Vasily Yakemenko, the first lead...

Santorum won political caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota, along with beauty contest in Missouri securing triple victory

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has revived his flagging campaign with a trio of victories to upset frontrunner Mitt Romney's seemingly inevitable progress towards the party nomination.

Santorum achieved a clean sweep of the states being contested ? Colorado, Minnesota and the non-binding "beauty contest" primary in Missouri. It was a disastrous night for Romn...

? Bombardment of Homs continues for a fifth day
? US says it won't arm Free Syrian Army
? Russia calls for an Arab solution to the crisis

? Read the latest summary

8.46pm: The Associated Press has spoken to anti-Assad fighters in Homs who say they are struggling to cope with the barrage of shells raining down on the besieged city.

"We don't have the same capabilities to retaliate with the same power," one of the fighters said. Assad's forces have tanks "and we only have this rifle," he added.

In th...

Live coverage of the aftermath of Rick Santorum's big win in the latest round of voting in the GOP presidential nomination race

4.11pm: More evidence of disquiet within the Obama camp over the contraception mandate. The Washington Post reports that former Virginia governor Tim Kaine has spoken out against the policy that requires some religous employers to provide insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives.

Kaine, who is Obama's choice to head the Democratic National Committee, said in ...

John Boehner calls new requirement that religious schools provide free contraception 'an attack on religious freedom'

Republicans in Congress have vowed to reverse President Barack Obama's new policy on birth control, lambasting the requirement that religious schools and hospitals provide employees with free contraceptives as an "unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country."

The White House pushed back in the face of a political firestorm, arguing that Obama was sensitive to the obje...

George Monbiot's decision to hang his article on rightwing populism on a study that claims to prove "scientifically" that conservatives are less "intelligent" than liberals was, frankly, not very intelligent (Comment, 7 February). Evidently George needs to read Stephen Jay Gould's classic The Mismeasure of Man. This demonstrated that studies claiming to measure the intelligence of various groups were racist pseudoscience. Even when they're not racist, they're still pseudoscience. How will Geo...

With one giant leap they are free! How extraordinarily convenient that, just after the nuclear power mega-disaster of Fukushima and just when it is becoming clear around the world that citizens do not want nuclear power and that no one knows how to get rid of the lethal waste, the nuclear industry and government discover we can "safely" have enough nuclear power for the next 500 years not only without creating any nuclear waste but also by consuming the nuclear waste we already have in the p...

Another bothersome Lib Dem out of the cabinet, the NHS one step closer to the abyss ? it's been another great week for Cams and Ozzy

The DPP: We are taking Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce to court.

Huhne: Mmm. I guess that half time during a World Cup game wasn't the best time to tell my wife I was having an affair and would she mind OKing my press release about our separation before the second half started.

Pryce: You could have waited until the final whistle. So what will you do now?

Huhne: I suppo...

Simon Jenkins is right to demand restoration of freedom from detention without trial in Britain (Deport Abu Qatada: or if not, give him the law's full protection, 8 February 2012). But he seriously damages that cause by calling on the British government to disregard the Othman [Qatada] ruling of the European court of human rights. The Strasbourg court is a crucial defender of civil liberties in Britain. Its international membership and perspective help it stand free from the hothouse atmosphe...

Your diary column (8 February) seeks to deride the nomination of Tony Ball for the title of Council Leader of the Year and also gets the facts wrong about the final cost of the operation to clear Dale Farm last October. Tony was nominated for the leadership which he demonstrated throughout 2011 and in particular for leading the council through the difficult clearance of the illegal traveller settlement at Dale Farm.

The council did not spend £18m as originally budgeted on the operation ? the f...

Eve Ellis, an ex-board member of Komen New York City, sent a letter to friends and family calling for the Komen board to quit

Dear Friends and Family,

As you know, Komen has been a major charity for my family and me for the last decade. I served on Komen NYC's Board for 6 years. Thanks to donations from friends and family, my spouse and I have raised over $250,000 over the last 6 years for Komen NYC. For the past 4 years, Komen NYC has given an award annually in memory of our niece, Hally. Eve...

Eve Ellis says Brinker should take some 'truth serum' and urges Komen's board to resign as part of 'clean house' process

? Read Eve Ellis's letter here

A major fundraiser for Susan G Komen for the Cure, the breast cancer advocacy group at the centre of a row over its funding cut to Planned Parenthood, has called for the organisation "clean house" at the top, starting with the resignation of its founder Nancy Brinker.

Eve Ellis, a former board member of affiliate group Komen New York City, said s...

Greek government official says the bailout agreement will be finalised because, simply, time is running out

After three days of high drama, political posturing and brinkmanship, Greece's three-party coalition was expected on Wednesday to approve draconian terms attached to a ?130bn (£109bn) rescue programme for the debt-choked country.

Ending weeks of economic deadlock, Athens' bickering party chiefs were poised to agree yet more belt-tightening ? the price of further aid from the EU, European ...

Large crowds gather in Karachi harbour, Pakistan, to see a 11-metre long whale shark discovered by local fishermen in local waters

Santorum's hat trick stirs up Republican race

U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has shaken up what was largely thought to be a settled race by scoring three wins over Mitt Romney, but might find it hard to compete with the well-funded front-runner in coming primaries.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his ministers have signed a series of agreements in Beijing on investment, education, research, energy and natural resources, further binding Canada's future to fast-growing China.

Some of the charges against two men accused of attempting to sneak members of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's family into Mexico have been dismissed, according to the family of Cynthia Vanier, a Canadian also arrested in the alleged smuggling plot.

CBC correspondents and producers bring you the latest, telling bits from the nomination battles and the U.S. presidential race of 2012.

The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in the regime's siege of the restive city of Homs.

Greece's coalition leaders met Wednesday for crucial austerity talks with the country's prime minister, to review a draft deal on steep cutbacks demanded by creditors in return for a 130 billion euro ($170 billion) bailout.

The former top cop of a major Chinese city has dropped from sight amid unconfirmed reports he is seeking U.S. asylum following a quarrel with one of China's most powerful local politicians.

Nokia Corp. plans to end the assembly of cellphones in Europe by year-end as it shifts production to Asia and cuts another 4,000 jobs, its latest attempt to cushion its finances from stiff competition in the smartphone sector.

The Chinese cabinet is promising to raise minimum wages by 13 per cent a year until 2015, as the country's leaders face growing pressure to spread the country's prosperity more widely.

The number of shark attack deaths is at a 20-year high worldwide, killing one in four people who are injured this way, according to a new report.

Rupert Murdoch's News International has succeeded in settling nearly all the cases in the first wave of phone hacking lawsuits brought against his British newspaper company, lawyers said Wednesday.

After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years -- a lake that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets.

Supporters of the Maldives former president rioted through the streets of the capital and seized some remote police stations Wednesday to demand his reinstatement.

A U.S. federal appeals court has declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for a likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

NASA has received 6,300 applications from people wanting to be astronauts, the second-highest number in the space agency's history.