Russian police on Wednesday captured a prisoner charged with double murder whose daring escape from a formidable Moscow prison after apparently using a spoon to prise open his cell ceiling led to a massive two-day manhunt.

Authorities claimed a major breakthrough on Wednesday in their investigation of a spectacular US$50 million diamond heist, detaining at least 31 people in a three-nation sweep some three months after robbers pulled off the theft with clockwork precision at Brussels Airport

Rescue workers in diving gear found seven bodies Wednesday in the wreckage after a cargo ship slammed into the dock at Genoa, toppling the busy Italian port's control tower into the harbor.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday doggedly pursued his hopes of both ending the war in Syria and bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to negotiations on the third-day of a whirlwind tour.

Heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla attended the state opening of Britain's parliament alongside Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, in a sign of their increasing role as the 87-year-old monarch scales back some of her duties.

France on Wednesday reported its first case of a new respiratory virus related to SARS, in a traveler returning from the United Arab Emirates.

More than 73 million young people are unemployed around the world and the situation is expected to only get worse, the International Labour Organization said on Wednesday.

The European Commission proposed Wednesday what an EU source said was an urgently needed anti-dumping levy on imports of Chinese solar panels, allegedly unfairly subsidised by a government that has retaliated in kind to similar moves.

Addressing an audience of dignitaries in Luxembourg in 2005, Bulgaria's then prime minister extolled the virtues of European Union membership, declaring his nation ready to take its place at the heart of the continent.

Queen Elizabeth II will miss the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Sri Lanka in November, sending her son Prince Charles in her place, the palace announced on Tuesday.