Mali's defence ministry says the armed forces have killed about 20 northern separatist rebels and taken a dozen more prisoner during two days of clashes in the Timbuktu region.

Clowns from all over the world were welcomed yesterday at the annual memorial for Joseph Grimaldi, the man credited as the founding father of the modern white-faced clown.

The highest court in the land will "tweet" from today, issuing news about judgements.

An enlarged stamp featuring the Queen's image on an old £1 note is one of six featured in the Royal Mail's Diamond Jubilee Definitives collection. The stamps, which will be available across the UK from today, show different images of the Queen used on stamps, banknotes or coins during the past 60 years.

Snow brought widespread disruption to much of Britain yesterday, with hundreds of flights cancelled, trains services delayed and motorists stuck in traffic jams.

David Cameron sheltered from the snow in his Oxfordshire constituency yesterday by taking to an indoor synthetic ice rink. The PM joined pupils from Holy Trinity Primary School, in Chipping Norton, at a fundraising event.

More than 3,000 civilians were killed in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, the fifth year in a row the number has risen, according to the United Nations in a report likely to revive tension between the Afghan government and its Western backers.

Scientists have identified a genetic mutation in one of the 23,000 human genes that can double the risk of a stroke, which kills more than six million people worldwide each year and is the second top cause of death in developed countries.