Authorities were investigating a suspicious package that was found Tuesday in the vicinity of the Bank of England, just two days before world leaders meet in London at the G-20 Summit. CNN's Paula Newton said a controlled explosion was heard shortly after the package was discovered. A spokesman for the Bank of England told CNN the building had not been evacuated. The Bank of England was expected to be the focus of mass protests by anti-capitalist and climate change campaigners ...

Spanish golf legend Seve Ballesteros says that fighting a brain tumor is the biggest battle of his life and in golfing terms like winning a sixth major title. Ballesteros has spoken publicly for the first time since being diagnosed with the disease last October after collapsing at Madrid's Barajas airport. In the interview published in Spanish sports daily Marca, The Times and The New York Times, the five-time major champion speaks of the shock at being told by doctors the ...

Leaders at this week's Group of 20 summit must reshape the world's economic system to reflect global values, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday. World leaders also must manage globalization to prevent a repeat of the mistakes that led to the current financial crisis, Brown said during a meeting of faith groups and charities at London's St. Paul's Cathedral. "Instead of a globalization that threatens to become values-free and rules-free, we need a world of shared global rules founded ...

German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday pledged government support for potential investors in General Motors' European subsidiary, Opel. Her promise came in a speech to Opel autoworkers the day after U.S. President Barack Obama warned General Motors and Chrysler that they had limited time to "restructure in a way that would justify an investment of additional taxpayer dollars." The U.S. government said both companies would receive financial support to keep operating for 60 days -- time that would be used ...

Eight-year-old Sandra Cantu came home from school, kissed her mother, and left to color and play with a friend who lived a couple of houses down. That was at 3 p.m. Friday. By Tuesday -- despite an intense search by hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel and volunteers over three days -- the little girl in the pink Hello Kitty T-shirt and black leggings had yet to be found. The mysterious disappearance of Sandra from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home ...

Should a bridge that would connect two campuses at Microsoft's headquarters be funded with $11 million from the federal stimulus package? Critics of using stimulus money for the bridge say it would give the software giant a break on a pet project. They also say it serves as a warning sign of how some stimulus money is not being used to finance new projects but is being diverted to public works already under way. Supporters argue the bridge is an ...

When the series "ER" airs its finale on Thursday, the event will not only mark the completion of one of NBC's most successful shows, but it can also be viewed as the end of an era for the network. "What's so symbolic about 'ER' leaving is that that 10 o'clock Thursday night slot started out what I always called the beginning of the second golden age of television with 'Hill Street Blues'," said Robert Thompson, a professor and founding director ...

A joint Cambodian-United Nations court, currently trying five former members of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge group on war crimes charges, is itself facing allegations of corruption and bribery. Two employees of the court's Office of Administration told CNN of an ongoing kickback scheme involving Cambodian staff. The staffers asked their identities be protected out of fear of retribution to themselves and their families. "We are talking about 30 to 40 or even a little bit more ... a month," said ...

Hundreds of French workers, angry about proposed layoffs at a Caterpillar office, were holding company executives hostage Tuesday, a spokesman for the workers said. The hostage taking is the latest in a string of protests in France sparked by the economic downturn and job losses. Last week French workers held the manager of a factory run by U.S. company 3M hostage in his office for more than 24 hours over a labor dispute. The new incident began ...

Football fans are often prepared to make huge sacrifices for the love of watching their teams play. Take Matthew Gerrard. The 33-year-old lives in Kent, in south-east England, yet regularly makes the eight-hour round trip to watch Borussia Dortmund in Germany's top flight division, the Bundesliga. Matthew was once a fan of London-based club Arsenal, having been to a pre-Premier League game as a youngster 20 years ago. But over time he found England's increasingly money-driven top clubs becoming ...