Russia yesterday accused Western countries of stirring up tensions in Serbia, a Moscow-friendly Balkan nation that has been rocked by protests over alleged fraud in elections held on December 17.

Pope Francis said in his Christmas message yesterday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the “little Jesuses of today” and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians.

Russia’s Central Electoral Commission yesterday rejected an application by a candidate calling for peace to stand in next year’s presidential elections.

Russia may cut diplomatic ties with the United States if Washington confiscates Russian assets frozen over the Ukrainian war, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying yesterday.

A Nicaragua-bound plane carrying more than 300 Indian passengers has been grounded in France over suspected “human trafficking”, authorities said yesterday.

A shooter at a Prague university killed several people and injured dozens of others yesterday before being “eliminated” by police.

A gunman killed 10 people and seriously wounded 11 others at a Prague university on Thursday before being "eliminated", according to police and Prague emergency services

An Italian court sentenced two parents to lifetime imprisonment on Tuesday for killing their teenage daughter after she refused to travel to Pakistan for an arranged marriage.

A US computer scientist on yesterday lost his bid to register patents over inventions created by his artificial intelligence system in a landmark case in Britain about whether AI can own patent rights.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin dismissed as complete nonsense remarks by US President Joe Biden that Russia would attack a Nato country if it won the war in Ukraine, adding that Russia had no interest in fighting the Nato military alliance.

Vladimir Putin will run for president again as an independent candidate with a wide support base but not on a party ticket, Russian news agencies reported yesterday, citing his supporters.

Vladimir Putin will run for president again as an independent candidate with a wide support base but not on a party ticket, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, citing his supporters

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed a major European Union aid package for Ukraine yesterday and warned he could still halt Kyiv’s accession to the bloc after membership talks won EU approval.

A UK judge ruled yesterday that Prince Harry was a victim of phone hacking by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), and awarded the royal £140,600 ($179,600) in damages.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been removed from a prison near Moscow and taken to an undisclosed location, his spokeswoman said yesterday, citing a court representative.

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday Russia would press on with its war in Ukraine unless Kyiv did a deal that took Moscow’s security concerns into account, adding that the goals of the “special military operation” would in any case be met.

Italian archaeologists have uncovered a luxurious Roman home near the Colosseum, boasting an “unparalleled” mosaic featuring shells, marble and precious glass, the culture ministry said Tuesday.

After nearly three decades of dancing around the chief driver of global warming, UN climate negotiations in oil-rich United Arab Emirates yesterday called for the first time for the world to “transition away” from polluting fossil fuels.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been removed from the penal colony where he had been imprisoned since the middle of last year and his current whereabouts are not known, his allies said yesterday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said he was “deeply sorry” for those who lost family during the Covid pandemic as he was quizzed about his actions as finance minister during the global health emergency.