David.Orban / FlickrThe malaise appears to have been felt not only by clothes shops. Nearly 25 percent fewer people visited Moscow's malls in the week leading up the start of the school year than in the same period of 2013, a survey said, indicating that ...

A cease-fire struck between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists was largely holding on Monday in eastern Ukraine despite sporadic violations, but Europe's security watchdog said the sides must push for a political settlement. The cease-fire, which ...

A handout picture obtained in London on Sept 7, 2014, shows a contemporary sketch of Jewish emigrant Aaron Kosminski, who author Russell Edwards claims in his new book was the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper. -- PHOTO: AFP. Author Russell ...

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has threatened to break off a unity agreement with Hamas if the Islamist movement does not allow the government to operate properly in the Gaza Strip. And prime minister ...

TALLINN, Estonia (Reuters) - The United States plans to fight Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) until it is no longer a force in the Middle East and will seek justice for the killing of American journalist Steven Sotloff, President Barack Obama said on ...

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (L) takes part in a traditional bread and salt ceremony upon his arrival at an airport outside Minsk August 26, 2014. Russia and Ukraine said last Tuesday their presidents would meet together with top European Union ...

Soldiers checking sacks of rice at a warehouse in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, on July 3, 2014. One of the first measures Thailand's military regime took after seizing power on May 22 was to pay millions of rice farmers money owed to them by the ...

Valentyn Ogirenko / ReutersRefugees from the city of Luhansk sit inside a car at a checkpoint near the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve, Aug. 16, 2014. Three refugees including a five-year-old child were killed near the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk ...

There has never been a more fashionable time to record a video of yourself dumping a bucket of freezing cold water on your head, and for that, we have former baseball player Pete Frates to thank for popularising the social media craze. Frates, 29, who was ...

People walk in front of a building damaged by, what locals say, was recent shelling by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk on August 20, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS. KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine (REUTERS/AFP) - Heavy shelling hit residential neighbourhoods in ...

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - The armed wing of Hamas warned foreign airlines on Wednesday against flying into Tel Aviv, threatening to step up its six-week conflict with Israel and declaring truce talks in Cairo over. "We are warning international ...

British tycoon Richard Branson plans to succeed where countless politicians, diplomats and a cavalcade of sanctions have so far failed by marshaling international business leaders to bring peace to Ukraine. In a statement published Wednesday on his blog, ...

FERGUSON (REUTERS, AFP) – Police said Wednesday they had arrested 47 people during a night of protests in Ferguson, the Missouri town rocked by violence over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri ...

Hollywood star Vin Diesel has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to pour a bucket of ice cubes over his head, as part of a global action to raise awareness for a degenerative motor neuron disease.

They see the United States wading in to protect a favored ally in Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government, but leaving the rest of Iraq to fend for itself since extremists in the Islamic State displaced hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis. By Adam Ashton. McClatchy ...

They see the United States wading in to protect a favored ally in Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government, but leaving the rest of Iraq to fend for itself since extremists in the Islamic State displaced hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis. By Adam Ashton. McClatchy ...

Pope Francis takes part in a mass in front of thousands of followers at Daejeon World Cup Stadium on Aug 15, 2014. Pope Francis met relatives of South Korea's ferry disaster on Friday as 45,000 people packed into a sports stadium for a mass on the first ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has become the latest celebrity to be doused by a bucket of ice-cold water - and now he wants Bill Gates to follow suit. Aimed at raising awareness and cash for the fight against Lou Gehrig's disease, ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has become the latest celebrity to be doused by a bucket of ice-cold water - and now he wants Bill Gates to follow suit. Aimed at raising awareness and cash for the fight against Lou Gehrig's disease, ...

Sergei Chirikov / ReutersPresident Putin struck a peaceful note in Yalta, Crimea, on Thursday compared with rabble-rousing speeches by politicians including Zhirinovsky (left). Against a backdrop of saber-rattling statements made by leaders of State Duma ...