London - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "delighted" to have been received by Queen Elizabeth II during a flying visit to London Thursday.

Merkel said she had told the British monarch during their private meeting in Buckingham Palace that Germany had "every interest in seeing the UK as a close partner and friend."

She had also made clear that she was "delighted that the UK was part and parcel of the EU," Merkel told journalists after the audience.

London - An Australian man of German extraction wanted in Germany on charges of denying the mass killing of Jews in the Holocaust has been freed on bail by a court in London following extradition proceedings.

Westminster Magistrate's Court confirmed Thursday that a judge had thrown out an extradition bid from Germany for 64-year-old Gerald Frederick Toben, arrested at London's Heathrow airport on October 1 on the basis of a European Union (EU) arrest warrant.

London, Oct 30 : An international poll has come out with varied results on one of the most debatable questions among scientists— when human life "begins" biologically?

The results come prior to a controversial constitutional amendment next week in Colorado, which will confer legal rights on embryos at the point of fertilisation.

Out of the 650 votes polled in, only 22.7pct of voters selected fertilisation as the point when human life begins.

But, detection of foetal heartbeat scored the highest, with 23.5 pct vote in its favour, and at the third position was implantation of the embryo in the womb lining with 15pct.

London, Oct 30 : The 100-million-dollar Stanford Twenty20 Super Series, which is being described as the biggest deal in English cricket''s history, has reportedly been thrown into doubt after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced a review (of the series) as concerns grow over their five-year agreement with Sir Allen Stanford, the financer.

The fallout from an extraordinary week in Antigua is set to cast a shadow over English cricket after Stanford’s behaviour this week alienated the England team and embarrassed the ECB.

It has led to a series of damaging blows for the ECB, with one influential county chairman calling for the resignation of the board''s management, reported The Telegraph.

London, Oct 30 : In the pursuit to create a more ‘life-like’ robot, researchers have created a realistic robot head that can mimic human facial expressions, thus making communication more human-like.

Robotics engineers at the University of Bristol, UK, actually made a copycat robotic head, called Jules, which can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being.

Jules is an animatronic head produced by US roboticist David Hanson, New Scientist reports.

Honson builds uniquely expressive, disembodied heads with flexible rubber skin that is moved by 34 servo motors.

A video camera picks human face movements, and then maps them onto the tiny electronic motors in Jules'' skin.

London, Oct 30 : Popstar Britney Spears may lose her kids forever, as she has agreed to a court ruling that put her dad in permanent charge of her affairs.

The ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ hitmaker and pals hope the deal will let her visit her sons, Sean Preston, three, and Jayden James, two, more often.

Legal experts have said that after admitting that Britney is unfit to look after herself, the singer may lose her chance getting full custody of the boys, who live with their father, Kevin Federline.