FeedsMerge - Demonstration

In popular culture, butlers are usually portrayed as "Made in Britain" and tend to stately homes somewhere in the English countryside. The last few years has revealed a different reality, however. Increasingly, "Jeeves" and his ilk are as likely to be found managing a palace in Saudi Arabia as a manor in England.

Guatemalan former military leader Efrain Rios Montt has his conviction for genocide overturned by the constitutional court.

It's the staple of almost every kung fu action film ever made: the hero is targeted for revenge after teaching the deadly and closely guarded secrets of the martial art to outsiders and, even worse, foreigners.

At least six people were killed and a number of other people were injured when a storm with a massive tornado struck an area outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, officials said.

At least 51 people, including 20 children, are killed after a gigantic tornado rips through Oklahoma City suburbs, flattening whole neighbourhoods.

The government's same-sex marriage bill will receive its third and final Commons reading later after surviving resistance from Conservative opponents.

A month after being released to mostly positive reviews, Samsung's flagship phone is getting some validation from Consumer Reports. The publication has run all its tests, kicked the phone's tires, and named the Android-powered Galaxy S4 its top rated smartphone.

A Chinese fishing crew seized by unidentified North Koreans two weeks ago is freed along with their boat, reports say.

Some students and staff members may still be trapped in an elementary school; neighborhoods were leveled by the tornado, which was at least a mile wide; 143 people were hurt.

The decision, which rolled back the proceedings to April 19, when a decision by a pretrial judge sent the trial into disarray, is a dramatic legal victory for General Ríos Montt, 86, and a blow to human rights advocates.

A baby was left deaf and blind because a trainee midwife did not recognise signs of jaundice within days of his birth, a health trust admits.

An elementary school appears to have taken a direct hit after a massive tornado tears through a highly populated Oklahoma City area. The neighborhood just "isn't there anymore."

An eyewitness records the roaring tornado from a cell phone, as it tears a path of destruction near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

With mud caked on his face, Lando Hite tells of the moment the tornado hit. "It was unbearably loud, you could see stuff flying everywhere... just like the movie 'Twister.'"

Twenty of the 51 people killed are children, an official says, after a tornado hits with virtually no warning. Rescuers search for survivors, including in an elementary school.

The US and Chinese presidents, Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, announce they will hold their first summit in California in June.

Mr. Manzarek, who founded the band with Jim Morrison, died on Monday afternoon at a clinic in Rosenheim, Germany.

A massive tornado tore through the Oklahoma City area on Monday, May 20, leveling neighborhoods and leaving destruction.

Guatemala’s Constitutional Court on Monday ordered that the trial of the former dictator Efrain Rios Montt be restarted.

Scientists have used plant samples collected in the 19th Century to identify the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine.

The people who trade garlic for ice cream

The songs readers most enjoy when they are feeling low

A local reporter tells the BBC about the destruction in Moore after a tornado.

A group of bright minds at Caltech invented the 'toilet of the future' that could save lives.

Will Gompertz on the problem of 'iconic' art

Jose Mourinho will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season, the nine-time European champion's president Florentino Perez announced at a news conference on Monday.

Royal households have traditionally taken to fighting off outsiders with an array of medieval deterrents -- but not in India where regal residences are opening up to tourists from around the globe.

How does your football club's attendances match up?

The family of a woman murdered by her ex-partner call for a public inquiry into how complaints of domestic violence are handled by police.

How does a religion change what it believes?

Homes were flattened, cars flung through the air and at least two schools packed with children destroyed, sending rescuers to dig out those buried in rubble.

A scheme to help the unemployed find work appears to be failing the most disadvantaged jobseekers, MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee say.

Although it has been around for years, the technology is catching on among people who want to watch television on their own schedules.

Bolivia passes a law which could allow President Evo Morales to be elected for a third time, despite claims that it is unconstitutional.

Digs shed light on one of world's oldest civilisations

A think tank report argues that 18% of public spending on schools could be cut without damaging standards.

An advisory group for Labour calls for a tougher line on teaching standards in further education colleges.

David Karp, founder of Tumblr, got his education not in high school or college but in the world of Internet start-ups.

Senior White House aides were informed last month of an inquiry into the US tax agency's targeting of conservative political groups, an official says.

How the shake-up in Egypt is being felt far from Cairo

Rebels say Hezbollah backs the Syrian Army, as it pushes into Al Qusayr. Nic Robertson reports.

Fighting in the strategic city of Qusayr brought rising casualties for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as it joined its biggest battle yet in support of Syria’s president.

CNN's Thom Patterson rides up front on United's first Dreamliner flight since fears of battery fires forced a global grounding.

A chief inspector of GPs is to be appointed as part of a push to improve services outside of hospitals, ministers are set to announce.

A Congressional inquiry’s findings were remarkable both for the tens of billions of dollars involved and for Apple’s audacity in saying some of its subsidiaries were stateless and beyond any tax authority’s reach.

After the Levada Center, the country’s only independent polling agency, was told it must register as a “foreign agent,” its director said fighting the requirement would effectively shut the center.

Sharing a bed with your newborn baby increases the risk of sudden death syndrome - commonly known as cot death - fivefold, research suggests.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said service interrupted by the train collision last week in Connecticut should be restored on Wednesday.

SAC Capital Advisors is bracing for another round of withdrawal requests as fears grow that insider trading investigations could further damage Steven A. Cohen and his firm.

The lives of hospital patients who are put on a drip are being placed at risk by poor attention by staff to intravenous fluid care, experts warn.

She was a sickly four year old, struggling with a heart defect. But doctors in Israel came to her rescue after her family fled fighting in Syria.

The policies of past and present Westminster governments have held back Scotland, Holyrood's SNP administration claims in an economic document on independence.

Why foreign comedians love the British comedy business

Yahoo's purchase of hot blogging platform Tumblr, which it announced Monday, was big news for the hundreds of millions of folks who already post to the site or check in to follow those who do.

A tiny device that can recharge cell phone batteries in as little as 30 seconds won 18-year-old Eesha Khare a major science award that will help fund her college education at Harvard University.

The European Parliament is to meet to debate ways to tackle tax evasion, as the EU aims to stem the huge flow of funds lost to member states.

Will Microsoft's new games machine win the console war?

Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen explores what might happen if Iran continues with its nuclear programme.

A vaccine to protect sheep and cattle from a livestock virus spread by midges has been approved by government vets.

The new BBC inflation calculator works out your household's rate

Our reporter's updates from the 2013 film festival

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founder member of the 1960s rock band The Doors, dies aged 74 in Germany after a long battle with cancer.

Apple is accused of being "among America's largest tax avoiders" by a Senate committee, who says the company avoided paying billions of dollars in US taxes.

Sir Alex Ferguson is named LMA Manager of the Year after guiding Manchester United to a 20th Premier League title.

Fifteen-year-old Abby Harrison is already training to become an astronaut and hopes to reach Mars by 2030.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic shock therapy, which combines a flood of cheap cash, fiscal stimulus and deregulation, is getting early results.

The Doors' founding keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, died in Germany Monday after a long fight with cancer, his publicist said in a statement. He was 74.

Storm chasers captured a massive funnel cloud on camera near the small town of Rozel in central Kansas.

Meteorologist Chad Myers describes the scene as the first pictures of devastation in Oklahoma City start to come in.

David Cameron praises Conservative activists for their "duty and decency" and says he would never employ anyone who "sneered" at them.

Scores of people were killed across Syria Monday as the fighting took another dangerous turn with rebels targeting Hezbollah locations in Lebanon.

A small cruise liner with 112 people on board runs aground in the waters of Oban Bay on the west coast of Scotland.

President Barack Obama praises the leadership of Burma's Thein Sein after historic White House talks, but urges his visitor to halt violence against Muslims.

Officials said they were first notified on April 16 about an investigation into Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative groups, but did not tell President Obama.

The FTSE 100 reaches its highest closing level since September 2000, with analysts saying that the index may climb further.

A mile-wide tornado chewing through areas near Oklahoma City area has reduced neighborhoods to rubble and left cars and trucks crumpled on the sides of highways.

Jonny Wilkinson says he will do everything possible to be fit enough to answer a Lions injury call if he is needed.

The SDLP is to try to block a bill that prevents former prisoners guilty of serious offences from holding posts as Stormont special advisers (SPADs), after the party's proposed amendments failed to win support.

US President Barack Obama will visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania in his first extended tour of sub-Saharan Africa, the White House says.

Jose Mourinho's return to Chelsea could be a risky one following his acrimonious 2007 exit, says chief football writer Phil McNulty

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have been touring the Chelsea Flower Show as the event celebrates its centenary year.

Russian counter-terrorism agents have raided a group planning an attack in Moscow killing two suspects, officials say.

Haiti is estimated to have 250,000 restaveks — children working as unpaid servants after their parents, who cannot afford to raise them, give them away.

Yahoo says its $1.1bn (£723m) purchase of blogging platform Tumblr will boost its revenue as soon as 2014.

The Spanish punch that is consumed in the heat doesn’t have to be oversweet or headache-inducing, particularly when it’s made with fresh, fruity wines and other fine ingredients.

MPs reject further legal protection for teachers and registrars opposed to same-sex marriage.

Despite unemployment being close to 12%, Italians are snubbing traditional jobs like pizza-making.

Paul Mosley, jailed for the manslaughter of six children in a house fire, is to appeal against the length of his jail term, his legal team confirms.

Zach Sobiech, 18, passed away this morning, surrounded by family and friends.

A day after Yahoo’s board approved a deal to acquire Tumblr, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief, and David Karp, Tumblr’s founder, reassured users that Tumblr would operate as it did before.