All World

A 14-part series that attempts to make simple and accessible one of the most complex subjects imaginable will be distributed via booklets given away free with The Independent and The Independent on Sunday beginning tomorrow, and will simultaneously be made available at independent.co.uk/historyoftheworld. Starting with the origins of the Universe itself, it traces the formation of our planet, the first stirrings of life, the shaping of the continents, the evolution of species, the birth of the human race, and the millennia of history that have led up to the sophisticated but precarious civilisations of the present day.

The strongest aftershock since Chile's devastating earthquake rocked the South American country Thursday as President Sebastian Pinera was sworn into office.

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine.

Serious street clashes erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens Thursday as some 30,000 people demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the cash-strapped government's austerity measures.

A cardinal seen as a future candidate for the papacy has broken a Vatican taboo by raising the possibility that priestly celibacy is among the causes of the sex abuse scandal sweeping the Roman Catholic Church.

A Swedish court ruled Thursday that a former neo-Nazi leader arrested in Sweden can be extradited to Poland, where he is suspected of being involved in the theft of the infamous Auschwitz sign.

A U.K. man says he plans to make the first round-the-world trip in a customized rotorcraft known as an autogyro.

Pakistani officials say a botched suicide bombing aimed at a security convoy on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar has wounded three children playing nearby.

Preliminary election results released by Iraq's electoral commission show Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is winning in two Shiite provinces in southern Iraq.

The Year of the Tiger has got off to a tragic start for the endangered big cat in China.

At 35, Leila Ghanem is the first woman to become a Palestinian governor, the latest in a group of trailblazing women leaders who are slowly winning acceptance in this traditional society.

Heavy fighting flared in the Somali capital Thursday, a day after a battle between government forces and Al-Shabaab rebels left 29 dead and scores injured.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo insisted Wednesday that this week's explosion of violence that claimed at least 200 lives is not driven by religious tensions between Christians and Muslims -- but by ethnic, social, and economic problems.

Forbes magazine released its annual list of the world's richest people Wednesday, and for only the second time since 1995, Microsoft founder Bill Gates' name was not at the top.

President Obama met Wednesday with Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

The United States will hold both Israel and the Palestinians responsible for any steps that make peace between them more difficult, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

Myanmar's ruling junta has announced a new election law that disqualifies pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in upcoming national elections.

American Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as it razed homes in a Palestinian camp. On Wednesday, her parents seek answers in an Israeli court.

France's flamboyant, diminutive president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his younger pop star wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, are allegedly both having affairs, according to some of France's most reputable Webzines.

A British newspaper interview that quotes Nelson Mandela's ex-wife bitterly criticizing the 92-year-old anti-apartheid icon ...