COCKERMOUTH, England: Lifeboats and military helicopters rescued hundreds of people in northern England and a policeman was killed as torrential rain flooded homes, washed away bridges and closed roads.

BRUSSELS: Senior officials from six world powers said yesterday they were disappointed Iran had not accepted proposals intended to delay its potential to make nuclear bombs, and urged Tehran to reconsider.

CHICAGO: OPRAH WINFREY announced yesterday that her powerhouse daytime television show, the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire with legions of fans, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air.

LONDON: Buckingham Palace says the queen and her husband Prince Philip are celebrating 62 years of marriage quietly - without the fanfare of two years ago, when they marked their diamond anniversary.

WASHINGTON: Google, in a significant development for deaf Internet users, says it is adding automatic caption capability to videos on YouTube.

MUMBAI: Members of a Hindu hard-line political party yesterday ransacked the offices of an Indian television news channel in Mumbai, using iron rods and baseball bats to beat employees and smash furniture.

KABUL: Bomb attacks yesterday killed 23 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai's second term that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into the US-led war.

RIYADH: Increasing numbers of English-language websites are spreading Al Qaeda's message to Muslims in the West.

RAMALLAH: Palestinian officials yesterday said a new date for parliamentary and presidential elections will be set next month as President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to postpone the January 24 vote.

MELBOURNE: A second Bangladeshi twin is waking "slowly" and should be conscious later, three days after being separated from her conjoined sister in Australia, Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital said yesterday.

LOS ANGELES: The moon may be new, and the director may be different (CHRIS WEITZ takes over the reins from CATHERINE HARDWICKE), but otherwise, the second instalment of the Twilight saga remains, for better or worse, exceptionally faithful to its 2008 beginnings.

PARIS: Twenty-year-old South Korean supermodel DAUL KIM was found hanged in her central Paris apartment after an apparent suicide, the South Korean embassy said yesterday, citing French police officials.

LONDON: Scottish singer SUSAN BOYLE, one of the biggest stars of the Internet age, seeks to turn global celebrity into record sales next week with the release of her debut album I Dreamed a Dream.