Ban Ki-Moon ran into trouble on his first day of work as UN secretary-general on Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution when he twice failed to state the United Nations' opposition to the death penalty and stressed instead that capital punishment should be a decision of every country.
China's central bank under international pressure to make the yuan more flexible will in 2007 pursue a stable currency policy to promote economic growth.
Starting his first day of work, new Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed Tuesday to end mistrust of the United Nations and called for action to tackle daunting problems from crises in the Middle East and Darfur to reducing extreme poverty by half by 2015.
A British climate expert said 2007 could be the hottest year ever recorded because of a combination of global warming and El Nino.
Huge celebrations have been held in Romania and Bulgaria to mark their accession to the European Union, 17 years after the fall of Communism.
Wind-swept revelers gathered around London's Big Ben to watch the fireworks, and thousands of Japanese climbed Mount Fuji and other peaks to watch the first sunrise of the New Year. But the Thai capital sent celebrants home after a series of evening bombs
Two years after U.S. forces in Iraq pulled him from the hole in which he was hiding near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein has been executed.
The mysteries of the Antarctic deep will be probed in mid January by a new robot vessel capable of plunging 6.5 kilometer down, reports the BBC. Isis, the UK's first deep-diving remotely operated vehicle (ROV), will be combing the sea-bed in the region in its inaugural science mission.
A top Iraqi official says Saddam Hussein will be executed before 6am on Saturday, Baghdad time, 3am GMT.
British adventurer Hannah McKeand, 33, made polar history on Thursday when she became the fastest person ever to reach the Geographic South Pole solo and unsupported.