Up to 28 countries will help test a new tsunami warning system in the Pacific next month in what is thought to be the first exercise of its kind.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will sign a co-operation agreement with Unesco today to improve access to computers, the Internet and IT training in developing countries.

World leaders expressed horror at the bloody climax of Russia’s hostage crisis today, saying the barbaric attack on school children showed terrorists have sunk to new lows.

According to the UN, all the apes gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans face a very high risk of extinction within 50 years at most.