AFP - France voted Sunday in regional polls forecast to punish Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party, the last ballot-box test of his popularity ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

AP - The Vatican on Sunday denied that its celibacy requirement for priests was the root cause of the clerical sex abuse scandal convulsing the church in Europe and again defended the pope's handling of the crisis.

Reuters - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there was no reason for Euro zone finance ministers to make any decision on financial aid for debt-ridden Greece when they met on Monday.

AFP - Graeme Swann grabbed five wickets to bowl England into a commanding position in the opening Test against Bangladesh on Sunday.

AFP - The European Union is ready to unilaterally impose new sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner confirmed Sunday.

Reuters - Millions of Russians voted in regional elections on Sunday in a mid-term test of President Dmitry Medvedev's pledge to loosen the Kremlin's grip on the political system.

AFP - A British couple accused of kissing in public in the Muslim emirate of Dubai will find out next month if an appeals court will uphold their one-month prison sentence, their lawyer said on Sunday.

AFP - A British fertility clinic said Sunday it was raffling off a human egg this week to promote its "baby profiling" service, which it insists is legal under UK law.

AFP - Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic believes there is still more to come from his partnership with Rio Ferdinand as the pair gear up for the closing stage of the Premier League title race.

AP - Britain's Prince Charles visits Poland Monday, a journey that includes a visit to a bison-filled woodland — Europe's last remaining primeval forest thanks to preservation efforts of kings and czars of centuries past.

AP - It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

An American woman and three others arrested in Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish artist Lars Vilks have been freed without charge.

Panic grips Georgia when a pro-government television station broadcasts a fake report that Russian tanks had entered the capital and President Mikhail Saakashvili had been killed.

A suspect has been arrested in connection with a daring $331,000 raid on a poker tournament, according to German media reports.