Britain's Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Australia on Wednesday for her 16th tour Down Under, and one that may be her last.

The queen, who is traveling with her husband Prince Philip, arrived at Canberra's RAAF Fairbairn base, where hundreds of people were waiting for her, on a British Airways jet flying her personal Australian royal standard.

Britain's Treasury said Tuesday it had frozen the assets of five men in connection with the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States.

The finance ministry confirmed that it had acted under the Terrorist Asset Freezing Act, after ministers pledged action in response to the purported plan to kill Saudi envoy Adel Al-Jubeir in a bomb attack.

Nine people were killed on Sunday as Syrian security forces pressed a crackdown on political dissent in three separate hubs of protest against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in emailed statements received by Agence France Presse in Nicosia that four civilians died in the central city of Homs when security forces opened fire on a protest outside the home of a detained activist, Mansur al-Arassi.

A British minister was left red-faced Friday after he was snapped disposing of official documents in a central London park bin.

Oliver Letwin, the Minister for Government Policy, dumped ripped up papers relating to Britain's controversial methods of interrogating terror suspects in St James Park, a short distance from Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street base, the Daily Mirror reported.

Britain's Foreign Office has again summoned the Syrian ambassador to London over the alleged intimidation of exiled activists, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday, urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

It is the third time this year that Syrian ambassador Sami Khiyami has been summoned by the British government amid unrest in the Arab nation, while it also rescinded his invitation to Prince William's wedding in April.

Several embassies have tightened travel warnings for Lebanon, advising their nationals to avoid parts of the country due to unrest in neighboring Syria and the kidnapping of a group of Estonians.

The British embassy now advises its nationals to avoid travel to Lebanon's eastern and southern borders with Syria following incursions by Syrian troops into the country.

YouTube on Friday began letting people in Britain rent movies for viewing online at the Google-owned video-sharing website.

"We've got some cracking films to keep everyone entertained through the upcoming winter months and beyond," YouTube business product manager Matteo Vallone said in a blog post announcing the launch in Britain.

Record-breaking autumn temperatures attracted hundreds of rare moths to Britain in what experts have called the best migration of the insects in years.

A wide variety of species, usually found in the Mediterranean, flocked to Britain to bask in temperatures of almost 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and southerly winds.

Gunmen who snatched a disabled 66-year-old Frenchwoman from her beachfront home in a prized Kenyan resort have taken her to neighboring war-torn Somalia, officials said Sunday.

With Kenyan forces obliged to stop their pursuit at the border and officials suspecting Somalia's al-Qaida-inspired Shebab, chances dimmed of a quick release for the woman, named as Marie Dedieu.

A controversial European Union bid to impose a tax on financial transactions is intended to make the finance sector pay something back after massive public sector bailouts in recent years.

Draft European Commission legislation endeavors to prevent companies from relocating outside the single market, as critics claim, or consumers from picking up the tab further down the line, as campaigners fear.