An investigation is under way after a Russian airliner crashed in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board.

Sepp Blatter has claimed there was a deal to give Russia the 2018 World Cup before voting took place, and blamed England and the US for the corruption scandal engulfing Fifa.

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 United States announces that Iran may take part in talks to end the civil war in Syria and warned of increased military action against the Islamic State.

Syria's ally Russia says there should be talks between the Syrian government and the "full spectrum" of opposition.

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.

China's leader Xi Jinping is expected to put the seal later on its contribution to what will be the first UK nuclear power plant to be built in a generation.

At least 45 people have been killed in Russian air strikes on a rebel-held area of north-western Syria, a monitoring group says.

40 militants with the so-called Islamic State are killed in air strikes in Syria, a British-based monitoring group reports.

Waking up hundreds of miles above the Himalayas, astronaut Scott Kelly broke the US record for the most time spent in space with 383 days.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says she will investigate Russian and Georgian forces over possible war crimes.

Voicing concern over the recent killing of two foreign nationals, Russian Ambassador in Dhaka Alexander A Nikolaev says two drops of water do not mean that it is raining as a peaceful environment is prevailing in Bangladesh.

Eight senior figures from Islamic State were killed in an air strike while meeting in a town in western Iraq, but the group's reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them.

The Netherlands, who were within a penalty shootout victory of reaching the 2014 World Cup final, now stand on the brink of missing the European Championships for the first time since 1984.

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 is to hold more talks with the US on air safety during the two countries’ Syrian bombing campaigns, says the Pentagon.

Second-half goals from Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez saw Chile to a 2-0 win over Brazil in their World Cup qualifier on Thursday.

Nato defence ministers will assess the "troubling escalation of Russian military activities" in Syria, the alliance's secretary-general says, ahead of talks in Brussels.

Russia says it has launched rocket strikes on Islamic State group targets in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea - about 1,500km (930 miles) away.

Turkey again summons the Russian ambassador after a second violation of its airspace by a Russian warplane operating in Syria in two days.