Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov held his first direct talks with Syria’s opposition leader in Germany on Saturday, amid a renewed global push to iron out sharp differences over how to end the conflict in Syria.

Queen Elizabeth II dutifully sits through endless hours of displays of military pomp rehearsed to the second — and secretly loves it when everything goes wrong, Bri-tain’s pageant master said Saturday.

It’ll be computer scrolling, not ancient scrolls, for Jewish culture lovers when the world’s most famous Yiddish newspaper relaunches its website on Monday in a bid to stave off extinction.

The operator of the erstwhile news magazine Newsweek, which became a solely digital publication last year after 80 years in print, officially became NewsBeast on Friday, its parent company said.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard denied that her government was in chaos, after the resignation of two of her most senior ministers prompted a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a national election.

Twitter said it was hammered by a “sophisticated” cyber attack similar to those that recently hit major Western news outlets, and that the passwords of about 250,000 users were stolen.

Pakistan crashed to their lowest Test total when they were bowled out for 49 by a South African pace barrage on the second day of the first Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.

Malala Yousafzai, the shot Pakistani schoolgirl-turned-icon of Taliban resistance, and ex-Eastern bloc activists are among those known to be nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, as the deadline expired today.

Legendary diva Barbra Streisand will sing at the Oscars next month, her first Academy Awards performance in 36 years, organisers said on Wednesday.

Model Naomi Campbell won damages from a British newspaper on Thursday over a report claiming she was planning to organise an elephant polo tournament for her partner’s birthday in India, her lawyer said.