Britain's Prince Harry has qualified as an Apache attack helicopter pilot, St. James's Palace said Thursday, adding that he had won a prize for shooting skills.

The 27-year-old received an award for being the best co-pilot gunner at a dinner Wednesday to celebrate the completion of 18 months of rigorous training by some 20 pilots.

Europe stepped up pressure on Syria on Tuesday as several nations recalled their ambassadors from Damascus and the EU considered new sanctions to cut the regime's access to cash.

France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands decided to bring back their envoys for consultations, joining Britain and Belgium to protest the regime's relentless opposition crackdown. The United States has closed its embassy.

A British judge on Monday ordered the release on bail of radical cleric Abu Qatada, allegedly a former top aide of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, despite government concerns he poses a security risk.

The interior ministry condemned the decision, saying the 51-year-old is "a dangerous man who we believe poses a real threat to our security and who has not changed in his views or attitude to the UK."

Queen Elizabeth II on Monday marked 60 years since she rose to the British throne with visits to a town hall and a school, in a low-key start to five months of diamond jubilee festivities.

A small but enthusiastic crowd braved freezing temperatures to see the monarch arrive in King's Lynn in Norfolk, eastern England, 60 years to the day since she became queen following the sudden death of her father King George VI.

Britain sought Sunday to play down military moves around the Falkland Islands, as the foreign minister refused to comment on reports it has moved a nuclear submarine to the tense South Atlantic.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper on Saturday claimed Prime Minister David Cameron has personally approved plans to send one of the Royal Navy's most advanced Trafalgar-class nuclear submarines to the disputed archipelago.

France on Tuesday pressed Syrian authorities to shed light on the death of French television reporter Gilles Jacquier, who was killed as he covered the country's 10-month-old uprising.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, visiting the United Nations in a push for a resolution on Syria's bloodshed, said that a report by Arab League monitors was not definitive on the origin of the fire that killed 43-year-old journalist.

British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed on Monday his support to PM Najib Miqati, revealing that in addition to other things London will double the training programs to the Lebanese armed forces.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher held a meeting with Miqati at the Grand Serail and handed him a letter from Cameron.

European and Arab U.N. members on Saturday started rewriting a proposed Security Council resolution condemning Syria's deadly crackdown on dissent after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria.

European countries said the withdrawal highlighted the need for U.N. action. France's foreign minister contacted his Russia counterpart in a bid to overcome Moscow's resistance to the draft resolution officially presented on Friday, diplomats said.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron launched a stinging attack on his European partners Thursday, slamming the Eurozone as uncompetitive and branding a planned transaction tax "madness".

The British premier took the stage on the second day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the annual get-together for the global business elite, and revived his simmering feud with the ailing single-currency bloc.

European and Arab nations want a U.N. Security Council vote next week on a resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protests and hinting at sanctions, diplomats said Tuesday.

Britain, France, Germany and Arab nations are working on the resolution which could face Russian opposition because of a call on all states to follow Arab League sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad.