Russia says it has flown 11,000 tourists home from Egypt in the past 24 hours, and more will return on Sunday.

They are the great many who simply ignore what motivates Putin's armed diplomacy (and not just in Syria): the desire to exact revenge on those who, in his eyes, were responsible for the Soviet Union's downfall.

The White House has strongly condemned a visit to Moscow by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has visited Moscow on his first overseas trip since the civil war broke out in his country in 2011.

Russia's air force hit 60 Islamic State targets in Syria over the past 24 hours and killed around 300 militants, the Defense Ministry says.

Russia appears to have begun carrying out air strikes in Syria against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, a US defence official says.

Russia's recent movements near Syria's city of Latakia suggest that Moscow plans to establish a "forward air operating base" there, the US has said.

The price of international food commodities registered their largest monthly drop in seven years in August, the UN food agency said on Thursday.

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler staged an impromptu performance on the street during his visit to Moscow.

US Secretary of State John Kerry expresses concern to Moscow over reports of Russian military build-up in Syria, the state department says.

Farah makes it three successive world 5,000m titles and has now won golds in both track distance events at the Olympics and two World Championships.

Russian President Vladimir Putin burnished his action man image on Tuesday by diving down in a mini-submarine to explore a shipwreck off the coast of the Crimea peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine last year.

A new traffic signal in Dhaka proves to be a disaster as the capital experiences a total breakdown of traffic control this week.