UPDATED Karen Danczuk, Labour councillor for Kingsway, Rochdale, mother of two, deli owner, and wife to Simon Danczuk reveals why she took her now world-famous 'selfies'. The selection of eye-popping selfies, on her Twitter page over the past few weeks, have made headlines in national tabloids and seen the birth of a new social media genre: the 'cleavage selfie'.

The Foreign Secretary, who has spent most of the week at the Hollywood actress's side, bestowed the surprise accolade on her as part of the Queen's birthday honours. The pair (pictured together with Mr Hague's wife Ffion and Miss Jolie's partner Brad Pitt) have been working closely together at a summit on rape in London - despite the escalating political and military crises in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine (the Mail's coverage, right). Eyebrows were raised at the headline-grabbing damehood, which seals two years of growing friendship between the A-list actress and Mr Hague. Miss Jolie, 39, said of the honour: 'It means a great deal to me.'

Anna Faith Carlson, 18, of Daytona Beach, Florida is a dead-ringer for the ice-queen character from Disney's Frozen. Since noticing the similarity, Carlson has been dressing up as Queen Elsa to attend events at schools and hospitals. She also hopes her storybook looks will help her get an audition for ABC's 'Once Upon a Time' show, which is adding Elsa as a character next season.

Even though most of us use a car every day, a survey has found three-quarters of us would fail our driving test if we took it again today. RED driving school put 50 experienced motorists through their paces and found an astonishing 38 of them failed, averaging three major faults each. But would YOU pass? We put Daily Mail writers Jenni Murray (main picture), Eve Ahmed (inset), Ray Massey and Brian Viner — each with decades of experience on the roads — to the test...

Steven Gerrard says his young England squad have 'no fear' ahead of their clash against Italy, as Daniel Sturridge posts a team bus selfie on his Twitter account. Gerrard, 34, also played down worries about the quality of the pitch in Manaus, saying it wouldn't affect the team's game plan. Meanwhile Roy Hodgson promised to give fans back home something to cheer about, and called on millions of supporters to back the team.

The World Cup is always the perfect stomping ground for a touch of WAG glamour .Here, we take a look at the leading ladies . . . Far left: Wayne Rooney's wife Coleen, 28. Second from left: Jack Wilshere's girlfriend Lauren Neal, 25. Second from right: Ross Barkey's girlfriend Faye Ayers, 20. Far right: Phil Jagielka's wife Emily, 29.

Thousands of extra officers are being deployed across country for a 'mini New Year' as pubs open late for the 11pm kick-off after a day of perfect barbecue weather. Sales of widescreen TVs at Tesco almost doubled in the run-up to the match in the steamy rainforest city of Manaus, Brazil, where Roy Hodgson's boys will take on Italy in the first challenge of their World Cup campaign tonight.

NEW Young Iraqi men have streamed into volunteer centres across Baghdad, answering a call by the country's senior Shiite cleric to join the fight against Sunni militants advancing in the north. The army has been condemned by senior politicians because hoards of soldiers have deserted their posts and fled home. They were responding to a call by grand ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to defend their country against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which made rapid advances this week.

Wedding season is upon us. With the average British affair costing more than £18,000, getting hitched can be an eye-wateringly expensive affair. But could you save thousands by simply heading to the High Street and buying the whole shebang? For the first time, Marks & Spencer has entered the wedding fray and now offers everything from wedding bouquets to the cake, the big white dress to the bridal lingerie. But should you let M&S; organizse your big day? GEMMA CHAMP finds out.

Until very recently, TV chef Lorraine Pascale refused to delve too deeply into her complicated past. When you look at the bare facts of her early life you can understand why.

In new images from the popular series, dads get up to all sorts of strange antics, from eliciting hilarious faces from their children to striking a pose in outlandish outfits. One particularly silly photo shows a father planting a kiss on his baby son, who reacts by pulling a shocked grimace. According to the website, Awkward Family Photos was started by two childhood friends named Mike and Doug, after Mike was inspired by a family picture he saw hanging in his parents' house. Father's Day is celebrated on Sunday June 15 in the U.S.

Up to 128 employees (centre and top right) from a range of government departments took part in the six-day, taxpayer subsidised ‘team building’ regatta on the Isle of Wight. Workers were spotted drinking heavily (centre) and racing each other in top-of-the-range boats (inset) during the trip. Some civil servants boasted that they were paid to be there and joked on social networking sites that it was just another ‘hard day at the office’. They said they had been granted taxpayer-funded ‘special paid leave’, usually reserved for family bereavements.

With her health fading fast, cancer patient Ann Walters feared she would not live to see her pregnant daughter’s baby or attend her other daughter’s wedding. Thanks to her extraordinary resilience, the 70-year-old managed to witness Gemma, 31, tie the knot – and even walk her down the aisle to give her away (right). Sadly, however, her other daughter Kimberley (left) had still not given birth - and was a week past her due date. So Kimberley, 29, took the astonishing decision to intervene to ensure her mother could hold her latest grandchild before she died and phoned her midwife to say she wanted to be induced straight away. The dental nurse gave birth on May 24 and Mrs Walters passed four days later.

Prime homes are snapped up at a vast property expo in Hong Kong where one agent said attendees spend 'as if they were shopping in Tesco!', writes DAVID JONES. Yet they are not super-rich; instead they are ordinary couples in search of an investment, not too different from the thousands of Britons gazing longingly but hopelessly in the windows of estate agents. Many pf the investors have no intention of coming to Britain to see their new commodities - which British estate agents like Adam Dockley (pictured left with a potential buyer) sell using the glamour of the Royals, Oxford and Cambridge.

A Texas couple burned down their vacant luxury home teetering atop a crumbling 75-foot cliff over a Central Texas lake on Friday. The owners, Denise and Robert Webb, vacated the property and decided to burn the home.

The Rockefeller family are one of America's best known dynasties but among the tales of business acumen and astounding wealth are stories of tragedy. From rumors that Michael Rockefeller, top right, was eaten by cannibals, to an imposter who hid behind the famed name before being charged with murder, the family has endured a tragic side. The most recent heartbreak for the family came on Friday, when Richard Rockefeller, pictured, the great grandson of oil baron John D. Rockefeller, bottom right, died when his light aircraft crashed outside New York City.

The truth often overlooked is that casualties on D-Day were far fewer than expected. The real carnage came later, and further inland, during the battle for Normandy, writes ANTONY BEEVOR. The German threat to throw what one general contemptuously described as 'the little fishes' back into the Channel was a ridiculous boast that was soon overtaken by events. But Paris would remain out of reach of the Allies until the end of August. In between, all hell broke out.

Filmmaker David Riggs captured stunning footage of a huge pod of bottlenose dolphins surfing near Observatory Beach, Western Australia, after he sent his quadcopter out on a perfect winter's day. He was hoping to film sharks following whales, but got more than he bargained for.

The battle lines have been drawn in an environmentally-conscious Aspen community after Alexandra Steel and James Scott (left) built an elaborate wedding reception (right) at Little Annie Basin, a pristine sub-alpine meadow on the backside of Aspen Mountain. Neighbors have complained about the traffic, carbon footprint impact and potential damage to the meadow, zoned as 'rural/remote' to conserve the natural environment. The property owner, who is also organizing the wedding, admits the event is larger than expected, but says opponents should 'live and let live'.

The clip sees an unidentified patient at a hospital in Klerksdorp, South Africa, lying in bed sedated with a group of medics crowded around. First the saliva is sucked from his gums and tongue, then clamps are inserted to prise out the electronic device.

NEW Soon after they were introduced, the red-capped African mangabey whispered something into three-year-old gorilla Kituba's ear at Dublin zoo. There's no telling what the little mangabey was telling the gorilla, but who knows, he could have been revealing the secret location to a stash of bananas.

NEW I've you've ever wanted to spot wild and wonderful creatures on the Galapagos islands, scale Mount Everest or visit Captain Scott's hunt in Antarctica, but don't have the budget, all you need to do is log on.

The buzzard was hit and killed by a US Air Force B-2 stealth bomber as it quietly landed at RAF Fairford in Swindon, Wiltshire. Photographer Matt Morris was taking pictures of the aircraft with friends but did not realise the bird strike happened until he examined his pictures the next day. 'I couldn't believe it at first' he said.

NEW The beaches in Brazil are an added bonus to the 1.9 million or so football fans traveling to South America for the World Cup. 'Rio de Janeiro is the sexiest World Cup host city ever, and to celebrate football fever, Travelzoo has named the capital's iconic Ipanema Beach the sexiest beach of 2014,' said Victoria Murden, Travelzoo's holiday Deal Expert.'

Barack Obama said more needed to be done to improve relations between tribal nations and the U.S. Government, as he made his first presidential trip to Indian Country on Friday. When the President and First Lady arrived at the North Dakota reserve, they were greeted with native dancing and singing as part of Flag Day Celebrations at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. In an emotional speech, the President acknowledged that the deck has been stacked against many Native Americans, and said the government and members of tribal nations needed to work together to break the cycle.