With thousands of requests pouring in for the first day of same-sex marriages in New York City, the mayor's office said on Tuesday it would establish a lottery to select 764 couples.

The city's decis

US envoys recently held a rare meeting with representatives of Muammar Gaddafi's regime and urged the Libyan strongman to cede power, a US official said.

The one-off meeting came after the United Sta

Britain's most senior police officer Paul Stephenson has resigned, citing allegations about Scotland Yard's links to Rupert Murdoch's empire amid the phone-hacking scandal.

"I have this afternoon in

US wars launched since the attacks of September 11, 2001 have left 225,000 dead and cost up to USD 4.4 trillion, according to a new study by university researchers.

The study published by Brown Unive

Suspected Islamists have hurled bombs and fired on a beer garden in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least 25 people and injuring about 30, police and witnesses said.

The two men

Al-Qaeda has named Ayman al-Zawahiri as its new chief following the killing of long-time leader Osama bin Laden by US commandos in May 2 raid in Pakistan, the jihadists said in a statement today.

A thick plume of ash from the erupting Puyehue volcano in the Andes shifted direction into Chile after spewing volcanic dust over parts of Argentina.

North-westerly winds pushed the giant column of a

Libya accused NATO of killing 718 civilians and wounding 4,067 in 10 weeks of air strikes, as African efforts for a truce stalled and Italy said Muammar Gaddafi's regime is 'finished'.

The toll of de

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to be re-elected as head of world football here on Wednesday after attempts by English officials to force a postponement ended in a crushing defeat.

Blatter is pois

Iran on Tuesday blamed a ‘technical problem’ after its airspace was briefly closed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plane as she flew to India, delaying her arrival and sparking a diplomatic row.