It's one thing to be attracted to bad boys and alpha males. But it's another thing entirely to fall in love with one of the world's most notorious serial killers.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee says it has not been told of any plan to ban Russian athletes from Rio for doping.

US defence official says Russia's might could annihilate Nato in three days, as a stand-off between them escalates in the region.

Russian "AIDS experts" say the best form of protection is to "be in a heterosexual family where both partners are loyal to each other".

Vladimir Putin may have unleashed his worst enemy when Nadia Savchenko was freed from Russian prison.

An Aucklander adopted from a Russian orphanage 19 years ago has been reunited with her birth sister - live on Russian television.

It's hard not to feel like James Bond stepping off the hovercraft on the crunchy ice of frozen solid Lake Baikal in Siberia.

The former Soviet city of Pripyat, the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, has became an unlikely drawcard for international tourists

Diplomats tell us what Kiwis need to know about their homelands.

Wendi Deng, 47, is rumoured to be seeing Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the Kremlin has denied any relationship between the two.

The former wife of the media mogul is reportedly in a "serious" relationship with the world leader.

US President Barack Obama welcomes world leaders to Washington today for a summit on nuclear security.

The excruciating moment a man miraculously hauls himself and his dog out of a frozen lake after they fell through the ice, has been caught on camera.

WATCH: Astonishing footage shows a Boeing 737 being blown right around on the ground by ferocious winds.

COMMENT: I bet every Western leader was privately impressed with Putin's tactical agility.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, with his sudden move to withdraw Russian forces from Syria, once more caught international observers by surprise.

COMMENT: The announcement makes it explicit that Putin has no interest in giving Assad the support he'd need to take on the forces of Isis.

Putin's announcement that Russia will begin withdrawing the "main part" of its military from Syria is a surprise potential end to a six-month intervention.

A Russian man is being prosecuted for writing a post on social media that equated the Bible to a "collection of Jewish fairytales".

Russian's plan is "the best opportunity the Syrian people have had over the past five years for lasting peace and stability".

Vladimir Putin is purposefully creating a refugee crisis in order to "overwhelm" and "break" Europe, Nato's military commander in Europe has warned.

More material branding the US president as a mass killer has shown up in Moscow.

The Turkish government, in league with Saudi Arabia, made a tentative decision to enter the war on the ground in Syria, writes Gwynne Dyer.

The use of sanctions against Russia are a symbolic reminder that the Putin leadership had seriously misread the international situation, writes Robert Patman.

Putin sell-off likely to be a flop, writes Ben Wright.

A leading member of a Russian opposition party has told how he believes he was poisoned in a "politically motivated" attack.

China and Russia promote a restrictive "sovereignty" model.

The Turkish leader has two goals: to ensure the destruction of Assad's regime, and to prevent the creation of a new Kurdish state in Syria, writes Gwynne Dyer.

Russia and Ukraine sank further into a widening trade war yesterday, as Russia halted all gas deliveries to Ukraine.