World

Russia is a country ruled by a privileged class of "dukes", whose press freedom amounts to "one-and-a-half newspapers" and where demonstrations are broken up by "repressive" security services.

Incorporating young people into the task of fostering understanding between people of various cultural and religious backgrounds is one of the four priority areas of the Alliance of Civilisations.

The first tropical storm of the season in the Americas has left at least 90 people dead in Central America amid flash floods and mudslides triggered by heavy rains, officials said Sunday.

Israel's prime minister was given "unequivocal assurances" from US President Barack Obama that a UN accord agreeing to talks on a nuclear weapons-free Mideast would not endanger the Jewish state, a senior Israeli official said Sunday.

Britain's new coalition government was dealing with its first significant setback on Sunday after David Laws, a high-profile finance minister, quit over his expenses claims.

Leaders of the splinter political group of Burma's National League for Democracy (NLD) registered their party at the Election Commission office in Naypyidaw Thursday, claiming they were gathering increasing support across the country.

Her husband died last year, but "he will be forever a guardian of biodiversity." Prof César Gómez-Campo, who passed away in September 2009, was one of the first people to use seed banking for the conservation of wild plant species.

Junko Hamada, 59, is now in her 12th year as an elected member of the city council of Isehara, a sprawling bed town west of Tokyo with an estimated population of 150,000. The former women’s rights activist, married and with three adult children and a grandchild, exudes energy and elegance and talks quietly.

Maoist rebels derailed a high-speed train packed with sleeping passengers into the path of a freight train in eastern India on Friday, killing at least 80 people, police said.

Maoist rebels derailed a high-speed train packed with sleeping passengers into the path of a freight train in eastern India Friday, killing at least 71 people, police said.

An express train packed with sleeping passengers derailed in India Friday and slammed into a goods train, killing at least 30 people in an apparent attack by Maoist rebels, officials said.

US President Barack Obama dumped George W. Bush's "war on terror" doctrine Thursday when he unveiled a national security strategy that calls for using America's still "unmatched" power less overtly.

Israel officially joined the OECD club of rich economies Thursday, giving a boost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he heads for talks in Washington on the faltering Middle East peace process.

South Korea's navy Thursday staged a major anti-submarine exercise, its first show of strength since tensions with North Korea flared over the sinking of one of Seoul's warships.

The administration is to unveil a new national security strategy today making the threat of homegrown extremism an integral part of security policy and stepping back from Bush era "war on terror" terminology.

Apple manufacturer Foxconn Wednesday urged workers to sign contracts promising not to kill themselves to stem a spate of suicides - hours before the 11th worker this year fell to his death.

She sang till the very end on a stage she could never call her own. That is how people in this provincial city describe the performances that Wanida Pimdeed gave in Bangkok, some 450 kilometres away, for weeks.

UN peacekeeping troops responded to a rock-throwing demonstration by university students Monday with a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets in the area around Haiti's National Palace, sending displaced masses running out of tent camps into the streets.

COMMENT On the anniversary of this tragedy, we must take the opportunity to look at ethnic and religious pluralism - toleration for a diversity of different groups and cultures - within Indonesian society today.

A 19-year-old employee of Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn fell to his death Tuesday at the company's plant in southern China - the 10th such death this year, state media reported.

A panel of experts in Jakarta has confirmed that US-based mining giant Newmont Mining Corp's subsidiary did not pollute the environment by dumping mine tailings into Buyat Bay in Northern Sulawesi.

The Fourth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), being held May 24-28 in the Uruguayan resort city of Punta del Este, seems a propitious occasion to ask the question: Does financing for the environment work?

Britain's Duchess of York apologised for a "serious lapse in judgment" after she was caught in a newspaper sting apparently offering access to ex-husband Prince Andrew in exchange for cash.

Investigators sifting through the charred wreckage of an Indian passenger plane that plunged into a ravine, killing 158 people on board, found Sunday the cockpit voice recorder.