UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned the world is missing its last chance to control climate change, appealing to nations at talks in Mexico to ramp up progress.

At least 20 people, including four foreigners, were wounded in a blast in the Indian holy city of Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, police said.

Six world powers and Iran have wrapped up two days of talks in Geneva on Tehran's contentious nuclear programme, with an agreement to meet again in Istanbul despite clear differences.

  The US has dropped its effort to persuade Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, officials said on December 7, dealing a blow to efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Rescuers say they have recovered 17 bodies, following a landslide near the Colombian city of Medellin.

President Barack Obama on December 6 unveiled a compromise deal to extend all Bush-era tax cuts for two years, giving ground to emboldened Republicans who won big in last month's congressional elections.

WikiLeaks has published a secret US diplomatic cable listing places the US considers vital to its national security, prompting criticism that the website is inviting terrorist attacks on American interests.

The Republic of Korea (RoK) has begun a series of major live-fire exercises despite warnings from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) against conducting them.

India has signed a deal to buy nuclear reactors off France, following talks between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi.

Russia's space agency is investigating the failed launch of three navigational satellites, the agency reported on December 5.