As Nelson Mandela celebrates his 90th birthday, BBC News Website readers convey their wishes to the former South African leader.

People should stop using the word chav because it is 'deeply offensive' to the lower classes, a left-wing think tank has suggested.

Irresistible force - the referendum - has met immoveable object - the need for every EU member state to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. So where next asks the BBC's Jonny Dymond?

A day-by-day guide to the 2008 US presidential election, in words and pictures.

Democrat John Edwards quits the White House race without backing any rivals, after failing to win a single contest.

BBC Latin America correspondent Lourdes Heredia looks at the importance of the Hispanic vote in Nevada's caucuses.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain reports on Kashmir's 'half-widows' - the women whose husbands have gone missing.

The Queen uses a keynote speech to Commonwealth leaders to praise the "optimism" of the young.

A profile of Kenya's Health Minister Charity Ngilu, last week arrested for freeing a suspect from a police station.

Four Kenyan women set to tell stories about undergoing illegal abortion, pullout of a forum after threats from anti-abortionists.

From the soup-eating habits of the middle classes to the application of face cream - a pioneering study of everyday life in Britain is celebrating its 70th birthday... and was the inspiration for Victoria Wood's double Bafta-winning drama.

The education secretary wants to stop pupils insulting teachers online. But is that really possible?

Special car parks for prostitution are one facet of Dutch efforts to shield sex workers from the kind of violence seen in Suffolk, UK.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has not forgotten about Africa, his wife Cherie tells delegates in Edinburgh.

The Internet Governance Forum is grappling with how to make web access as wide as possible.

Venezuela and Guatemala pull out all the stops for a seat on the UN Security Council, writes Laura Trevelyan.

The discovery of a body in a church may represent an horrific betrayal of its faith in an open door policy.

The summit of the Non-Aligned Movement allows those leaders out of favour with the US to meet and talk, says Roger Hearing.

The funeral takes place in County Tyrone of Monsignor Denis Faul who died on Wednesday aged 75.

Jamaica's first female prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, talks to the BBC about her hopes and priorities for the island.