Seven adults and two children have been found dead in the Canadian city of Edmonton after a man carried out what police called a "senseless mass murder" linked to "extreme domestic violence".

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook parts of the southern and central Philippines on December 29.

The AirAsia flight QZ8501, which disappeared with 162 people on board on December 28, is likely to be at the bottom of the sea, said Indonesia’s top rescue official.

Rescue teams working through the night have pulled 265 people off a stricken car ferry which caught fire off the coast of Greece but more than 200 are stranded on board, the Italian navy said on Monday.

The population of mussels could be threatened by climate change, as it has made oceans increasingly acidic, a team of British researchers revealed on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new military doctrine, naming NATO expansion among key external risks,

Thai Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs Wissanu Krea-ngam is confident that the next election will be ready in February 2016.

West Africa's Ebola crisis is likely to last until the end of 2015, says a leading researcher who helped to discover the virus.

Malaysia expects to welcome 1.4 million Chinese tourist arrivals during 2015 – the Malaysia Year of Festival.

Oil-rich Gulf states have vowed not to cut crude production, blaming speculators and producers outside the Opec group for tumbling prices.

Veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi won Tunisia's first free presidential election, beating rival and incumbent Moncef Marzouki with 55.68% of the vote against 44.32%, official results showed on Monday.

Australian police locked down the centre of the country's biggest city on Monday after an armed man walked into a busy downtown Sydney cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic flag

China has detained over 30,000 people during a two-month clamp down on pornography and gambling, news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Prosperity, cohesion and harmony in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) will only be achieved if a proper balance is struck between the human-socio-economic systems in the region.

The US and Cuba have decided to normalize their ties for the first time since 1961. The historic announcement, made by Cuban and US leaders on Wednesday, has been applauded by the world community.