More people than normal are expected to gather at Stonehenge to mark the winter solstice later, as the date coincides with the end of the Mayan calendar.

Statoil is to invest £4.3bn in a North Sea oil field, bringing hundreds of jobs to the north east of Scotland.

British troops in Afghanistan have paid a "high price" but their efforts have been a success, Prime Minister David Cameron has said on a pre-Christmas visit to UK bases in the country.

New free portable background checks on people who help out in schools and clubs have been outlined by the government.

An experimental 'Trojan-horse' cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in experiments on mice, according to UK researchers.

A US Marine is reduced in ranks and forfeits $500 pay after admitting urinating on the body of a dead Afghan combatant.

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn says it has bought a minority stake in US cameramaker GoPro for $200m (£123m).

Fans and celebrities pay tribute to Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar at a memorial near his home in California.