Europeans are tightening their belts and spending less on Christmas gifts this year as they struggle with incomes hit by austerity measures or fear the economy could worsen in 2012.

Mother Nature is helping retailers in many countries this year as there have been no snow storms keeping consumers home and playing havoc with deliveries.

Minutes after the announcement of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s death, the world leaders were on alert on Monday urging Pyongyang to engage with the global community.

The United States swiftly closed ranks with its ally South Korea, as President Barack Obama called his close friend President Lee Myung-Bak of South Korea at midnight on the U.S. east coast, as Washington and its regional allies digested the death of the Stalinist state's volatile 69-year-old leader.

More than three years since it arrived in its final port of Dubai, the storied cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 will soon be welcoming well-heeled guests once again — at least for a night.

The event marks the first time the ship's government owners are throwing down the gangplank for a large group of visitors since the vessel pulled into port in November 2008.

Kensal Rise library was opened by Mark Twain in 1900 -- and how it could do with the support of the great American man of letters now to fight off its threatened extinction as government cuts bite.

The red-brick Victorian building has closed its doors and will be shut down permanently unless a determined campaign organized by the residents of the multi-ethnic district of north London can save it.

Up to 4,000 British troops could leave Afghanistan before the end of 2013 under proposals to be considered by Prime Minister David Cameron next week, a report said Friday.

The Guardian reported that the accelerated pace of troop withdrawal was one of three options to be mulled by Cameron at a meeting of Britain's National Security Council on Tuesday.

The leaders of 23 European countries moved to tie their economies much closer together in a new treaty in their latest attempt to shore up the euro, but failed to get the four other European Union members, including Britain, to join in.

Following marathon all-night talks, the 23 decided to back a new treaty with strict oversight over national budgets, as they try to convince markets that the euro has a future in the wake of a crippling debt crisis.

UK Olympic organizers run a risk of exceeding their 9.3 billion-pound ($14.6 billion) budget for hosting the 2012 London games and have little room left for unforeseen costs, Britain's spending watchdog warned Tuesday.

The National Audit Office report concluded that while the venues are on time and largely complete, "not everything is rosy." The report came as British Olympic officials announced that they had doubled the funding for security operations at venues, raising overall security costs for the 2012 Games to more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).

Scottish artist Martin Boyce, whose works include a modernist reworking of a library table and artificial trees, on Monday won Britain's Turner Prize at a ceremony in Gateshead, north-east England.

On picking up the £25,000 ($39,100, 29,200 euros) award at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, 44-year-old Boyce paid tribute to his parents and highlighted the importance of teachers in light of the government's spending cuts.

A British court Monday gave WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange permission to continue his legal battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations.

The decision means Assange does not face immediate deportation. British judges said Assange could apply to the Supreme Court to hear one specific point of his legal case — but there is no guarantee that the higher court will accept his request.

An eagerly anticipated pair of giant pandas arrived in Edinburgh on Sunday on a charter flight from China, to become the first of the endangered animals to live in Britain for 17 years.

Yang Guang (Sunshine) and Tian Tian (Sweetie) were welcomed to Scotland to the sound of bagpipes as their "Panda Express" plane touched down at Edinburgh Airport.