In US director Oliver Stone's edgy new interview series, Russian leader Vladimir Putin says he believes intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is no traitor and appears to confirm multiple assassination plots have targeted him, AFP reports.Excerpts released Thursday from "The Putin Interviews"…

The White House has asked the US Supreme Court to reinstate a travel ban on people from majority Muslim countries, reports BBC.The ban has been blocked by lower courts which have said that it is discriminatory. Two emergency applications have now been filed by the government with the court's nine…

An elephant trampled four people including a 12-year-old girl to death when it rampaged through a village in southern India on Friday, AFP reports quoting police. The girl was sleeping when the elephant strayed into the village early Friday, also wounding her parents who are receiving treatment. Two…

British prosecutors on Friday charged a Conservative MP who is standing in next week's general election with submitting false campaign spending returns at the last election in a blow for the ruling party, reports AFP.Craig Mackinlay, 50, won out in the 2015 election against then UK Independence…

France's Emmanuel Macron has stretched his lead in polls for this month's parliamentary election, according to a survey yesterday that showed voters continuing to abandon traditional parties for the president's new centrist party, reports AFP.A poll by Ipsos Steria published by Le Monde…

Japan's lower house of parliament passed a bill Friday that allows ageing Emperor Akihito to step down, as it also called for a rare debate on the role of women in the male-dominated monarchy, reports AFP.Japan has not had an imperial abdication in two centuries and there was no law to deal with…

Thousands of Palestinians poured into Jerusalem to attend the first Friday prayers of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound,…

US billionaire Michael Bloomberg has offered $15 million to UN efforts to tackle climate change after President Donald Trump announced he is pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, reports AFP.The money would support the operations of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change…