Russia has blocked the website of a rights monitor tracking political persecution, saying it promoted terrorism and extremism, amid an unprecedented official crackdown on dissent.

War games conducted this week by Iran in the Gulf were intended to send a warning to Israel, the country’s top military commanders said on Friday, amid concerns over possible Israeli plans to target Iranian nuclear sites.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is bent on destroying Ukraine but there is no major risk of an imminent invasion, a senior Ukrainian security official said on Friday.

Pope Francis yesterday urged dialogue on both personal and political levels as he celebrated a second Christmas under the shadow of a coronavirus pandemic that was pushing people into isolation.

The US and four European powers on Friday urged war-torn Libya to quickly set a new date for delayed presidential elections.

Iran has no plans to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent if nuclear talks in Vienna fail, the head of the country’s atomic agency said yesterday.

Queen Elizabeth II in her Christmas Day message shared the pain she felt after the death of her husband as she encouraged people everywhere to celebrate with friends and family, despite the grief caused by the ongoing pandemic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) does not count as an expression of artistic freedom but is a “violation of religious freedom”, according to Russian news agency TASS.

At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country's coastguard said.

William the Conqueror is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman conquest of England.

Omicron’s rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa’s arrival and longed-for family reunions overshadowed by the prospect of yet more Covid restrictions.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev yesterday said that Washington grew “arrogant and self-confident” after the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading to the expansion of the Nato military alliance.

The head of Poland’s ruling party Jaroslaw Kaczynski yesterday said that Germany was trying to turn the European Union into a federal “German Fourth Reich”.

A Moscow court slapped Google with an unprecedented hefty fine of nearly $100 million yesterday as Russia ramps up its pressure on foreign tech giants.

Two patients died yesterday after a fire broke out in an intensive care unit of an infectious diseases hospital, typically used to treat Covid patients, in Astrakhan in southern Russia.

Intel found itself on the back foot in Washington and Beijing on Thursday after issuing a public apology over a letter to its suppliers referencing US sanctions targeting human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.

More than a dozen Western powers on Thursday expressed anger that Russian mercenaries working for the controversial Wagner group have started to deploy in Mali, accusing Moscow of providing material backing for the fighters.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday said the Russian military successfully fired a simultaneous salvo of its Zircon hypersonic missiles, calling it “a big event” for the country.

Canada met its target of granting 401,000 foreigners permanent residency in 2021 by focusing its efforts on temporary residents already in the country,

Talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume next Monday, the EU diplomat chairing the negotiations said on Thursday, urging a “picking up of the