New York:  Millions of people across the United States on Monday made last minute preparations for an unusually bitter Arctic blast that could send temperatures plummeting to their coldest in 20 years. The northeastern United States and parts of Canada have endured heavy snow and deadly sub-zero

Sydney:  All 52 passengers who spent Christmas and New Year trapped on an icebound Russian research vessel in Antarctica were airlifted from the ice on Thursday in a dramatic rescue mission. A Chinese helicopter which landed on a makeshift landing pad next to the marooned ship ferried the scienti

Sudan: The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan has called for an end to fighting in the country, and for peace talks to be given a chance. Hilde Johnson told the BBC the humanitarian situation was worsening. At least 1,000 people have died since fighting erupted last month between

DAMASCUS: Syria will miss a December 31 deadline for the removal of part of its chemical weapons arsenal for destruction, but international inspectors insisted the overall mission was still on track. The delay came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 130,000 people had been

A panel of Israeli cabinet ministers has approved new legislation to annex the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank. The legislation, backed by far-right members of the ruling Likud party, was endorsed on Sunday, just days ahead of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s scheduled visit to t

New Delhi:  An Indian studying in Melbourne is in a coma after being attacked by a group of people over the weekend, Australian media reports. Manriajwinder Singh, 20, was with two friends when he was assaulted by a group of eight men and one woman. The police has released CCTV footage of the

UK: Islamophobic hate crimes across Britain have risen dramatically this year, new figures have revealed. Hundreds of offences were perpetrated against the country's Muslim population in 2013, with the Metropolitan police alone - Britain's largest force - recording 500 Islamophobic crimes, compar

MOSCOW: Russian forensic experts studying the remains of Yasser Arafat on Thursday said the Palestinian leader died a natural death, ruling out radiation poisoning. “We have completed all the studies,” Vladimir Uiba, head of Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA), told a news conference.

BANGKOK: At least 29 people were killed and four badly injured when a bus plunged into a deep ravine in northeast Thailand, police said on Friday. The accident occurred around midnight Thursday-Friday in Lom Sak district, Phetchabun province while the bus was en route to the northern province of

JUBA: Thousands of South Sudanese have been killed in over a week of violence with reports of bodies piled in mass graves, the UN said on Tuesday, amid ongoing battles threatening to slide into civil war. The top UN humanitarian chief in the country Toby Lanzer said on Tuesday there was "absolute

(AFP) / 24 December 2013 She gave birth to Zhizhi, who weighed 1.85 kilogrammes (4.1 pounds), and Huihui, 1.45 kilogrammes, on May 25, 2010. A Chinese woman had twin girls at the age of 60 following IVF treatment after her only child died, making her possibly the oldest person in the country t

(AFP) / 24 December 2013 Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the fabled AK-47 automatic rifle which became a weapon of choice for guerrillas and governments the world over, died on Monday at age 94. His death, which came after a long illness, was announced by the office of the presidency in the Udm

LONDON -- At least 76 people were injured Thursday when a "huge piece of plaster" broke off from the ceiling of London’s Apollo Theatre, crashing into the audience and bringing down sections of a balcony, officials said. Several victims were initially trapped under the debris from the theater in

SINGAPORE: Singapore on Friday started deporting 52 Indian nationals for their role in the December 8 riot, the city state's worst street violence in 40 years. Sixteen of the men were interviewed by the state-appointed Committee of Enquiry (COI) into the riot in the Little India area, a report St

New Delhi, December 19, 2013:  India on Thursday hit back at U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who had justified Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s arrest, accusing him of interfering with the Indian legal system and asserting that the arrest was not in keeping with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has received reports from local sources in South Sudan that between 400 and 500 people have been killed and up to 800 wounded in the latest violence in Africa's youngest country, UN security council diplomats said on Tuesday. "Two hospitals have recorded bet

Nelson Mandela came home on Saturday. A hearse carrying Mandela’s body drove into his hometown in rural South Africa ahead of burial on Sunday, returning the country’s peacemaker to the place where he had always wanted to die. It was here in Qunu that Mandela roamed the hills and tended livest

Centennial, Colorado:  The student did not try to hide the shotgun he carried into Arapahoe High School at 12:30 p.m. Friday. He sought to confront a specific teacher, law enforcement officials said, and asked his classmates where he could find him. The teacher slipped away from the building, b