Unlike President Dmitry Medvedev, who is known for his love of new technologies, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has admitted he doesn’t have a mobile phone and never answers the phone at home.

The Olympic Committee of Russia has launched a contest for the future mascot of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

President Obama has hailed the end of US combat operations in Iraq, saying the US has paid a "a huge price" to "put Iraq's future in its peoples' hands".

Tony Blair has described Gordon Brown as "difficult, at times maddening" in his long-awaited memoirs, which are published on Wednesday.

As record-breaking temperatures have been torturing Russians for more than a month, ambulance crews are in a tough battle to save people suffering from heat and smog – though doctors say casualties are hard to avoid.

Economic growth in Japan weakened significantly in the last financial quarter, official figures show.

Talks are due to begin later at the conciliation service Acas in an attempt to avert a strike that could close six UK airports later this month.

Stricken communities caught in Pakistan's devastating floods are growing increasingly desperate, local officials say.

Iraq's top army officer has criticised the planned US troop withdrawal by the end of next year as premature.

Russia says it has deployed S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in the breakaway region of Abkhazia in Georgia.

Russia's emergency services are bracing themselves for the worst, as forest and peat fires continue to rage in many parts of the country.

Saudi Arabia's telecoms watchdog has called on telecoms firms in the country to block the messenger function on Blackberry handsets from Friday.

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has appealed to Kenyans to vote peacefully and in large numbers in a referendum on a new constitution.

Efforts are underway to recover hundreds of barrels of hazardous chemicals which are floating down a Chinese river towards Russia.

Just a short ride southwest of Moscow lie the fruitful lands of the Kaluga region. Hectares of fields make for great farming. With the help of American breeders, the region hopes to supply the whole country with steak.