The widow of one of the Western hostages beheaded by Isis militant Jihadi John has called for him to be captured alive, saying he does not deserve an “honourable” death.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said a "military threat from the east" will remain even if a ceasefire holds between government troops and pro-Russian rebels in the east.

North Korea vowed to wage a "merciless, sacred war" against the United States on Thursday, days before the launch of annual joint South Korea-US military exercises that have incensed Pyongyang.

The rise of ISIS in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere was directly caused by the administration of Barack Obama, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said on Thursday.

Syria's main domestic and exiled opposition groups yesterday said they had agreed a joint draft roadmap for the first time, calling for a transitional governing body and an end to the brutal conflict.

An Argentinian judge has dismissed the accusation made by state prosecutors that President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner conspired to cover up Iran's alleged role in a deadly bombing in 1994.

On April 20, 2009, a moment arrived that doctors had foretold for decades. Stephen Hawking, a scientist who overcame debilitating disease to become the world's most renowned living physicist, was on the cusp of death. The University of Cambridge released grim prognoses. Hawking, diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 21, was described as “very ill” and “undergoing tests” at the hospital. Newspapers ran obituary-esque articles. It seemed time was up for the man who so eloquently explained it.

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the federal government, saying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is incapable of running the affairs of the country.

Narendra Modi and Kashmir's incoming chief minister yesterday put the finishing touches on a deal that will see the premier's Hindu nationalists enter government in India's only Muslim-majority state for the first time.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday denounced communalism and said that nobody has right to discriminate on basis of religion.

A court in India yesterday cleared six men of murdering four people including three British nationals during 2002 religious riots in the prime minister's home state of Gujarat.

Revelations about millions of dollars donated by foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was serving as the US Secretary of State raised potentially perilous conflict-of-interest questions yesterday that risk dogging her if she decides to run for president later this year.

Eight people are dead and one person injured after a series of shootings in south-central Missouri overnight.

Pop star Madonna says she suffered whiplash as a result of her "nightmare" accident at Brit Awards.

German parliament has voted to extend financial aid to Greece by another four months.

Ukraine's military yesterday said it was starting the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline, bolstering a stuttering peace plan as the United States and Russia traded barbs over the conflict.

US officials on Wednesday questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judgment and said his outspoken condemnation of efforts to secure an Iranian nuclear deal had injected destructive partisanship into US-Israeli relations.

Insurgents in Somalia's capital yesterday fired a barrage of mortar rounds targeting the highly fortified presidential palace and main

The United States yesterday staged a military ceremony to end its five-month Ebola mission in Liberia, with the west African nation in recovery from the worst-ever outbreak of the virus.

Astronomers said Wednesday they had detected an "impossibly large" and ancient black hole that challenges theories about how these phenomena grew in the early Universe.