Reuters
Islamic State says it downs warplane in Syria
Islamic State fighters said on Wednesday they had shot down a warplane in the north-eastern Syrian province of Raqqa and taken the pilot captive.
Police shoot dead black teenager in Missouri
An 18-year-old black man was shot and killed by police at a gas station late on Tuesday in a St. Louis suburb near where unarmed teen Michael Brown was killed in August.
The Interview gets limited Christmas release
Sony Pictures will allow 'The Interview' to play in more than 200 US theaters as of Christmas Day, reversing its decision to pull the film.
10 years after the Boxing Day tsunami, hundreds of victims remain unnamed and personal possessions uncollected
With the bodies of almost 400 victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami still unidentified a decade on, Thai police were holding out little hope of gleaning any new information from opening a cargo container packed with unclaimed personal items.
Syria's ancient cultural treasures are being destroyed by ongoing war
Satellite imagery indicate that 290 cultural heritage sites in Syria, whose history stretches back to the dawn of civilisation, have been damaged by its ongoing civil war, the United Nations' training and research arm (UNITAR) said on Tuesday.
Over 1,000 Islamist militants killed in US strikes in Syria: monitor
Three months of US-led strikes in Syria have so far killed at least 1,171 people, mostly Islamic State militants, a British-based Syrian monitoring group said on Tuesday.
Middle East is the deadliest area for journalists with dozens killed this year
At least 60 journalists were killed globally this year in work-related violence, with the Middle East the deadliest region, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a year-end report on Tuesday.
Five bombs explode in Yemeni capital, killing one
Five bombs exploded in Sanaa's old quarter, where many supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi movement live, killing a member of the group.
Sydney mourns cafe siege victims
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday security officials had intercepted a heightened level of "terrorist chatter" in the aftermath of the Sydney cafe siege.
Man protests on ledge of St Peter's in Vatican
An Italian man evaded Vatican security for the fifth time to reach a high ledge on the facade of St. Peter's Basilica to protest against laws he says caused him to lose his business.
Iraqi Kurds and Yazidis fight to take back Sinjar town from Islamic State
Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the strategic northern Iraqi town of Sinjar back from Islamic State on Sunday after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it.
Fraud scandal leaves Franciscan order in 'grave financial difficulty'
A branch of the Franciscan religious order says the discovery of financial fraud has left it burdened with debt.
Australian mother charged with murder of eight children
An Australian mother has been charged with the murder of eight children, seven of them hers, two days after their bodies were found in a home in the city of Cairns.
India: Hindu leader vows to continue conversions of Muslims and Christians
A powerful Hindu leader defies Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue a campaign to convert Muslims and Christians to Hinduism.
Israel bombs Hamas base in Gaza after rocket hits southern Israel
Israeli aircraft bombed a Hamas militant base in the Gaza Strip on Friday for the first time since the end of a war in the territory.
Pope's Latin American brains trust was behind Cuba deal
Argentine Pope Francis and a trio of top Vatican officials who helped broker the historic deal between the United States and Cuba represent an unprecedented brain trust in Latin American affairs at the Holy See.