Dairy farmers in this country can expect to come under financial pressure if milk powder prices remain low and tensions in Europe continue to mount, say economists.

Vladimir Putin has boasted to European leaders his forces could sweep into Kiev in two weeks if he wanted.

Swathed in tight security in Newport and nearby Cardiff, Nato's 28 heads of state and government will map the future of their 65-year-old pact.

The crisis in eastern Ukraine and the response to the threat posed by Russia are poised to overshadow a fresh attempt by the European Union to set order in its affairs.

Nearly 200 cabin crew resigned from Malaysia Airlines following its double tragedy this year, causing crew shortages among staff.

Russia widened investigations into McDonald's restaurants in what looks like a tit-for-tat retaliation against American interests after the West imposed sanctions over Ukraine.

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine are being bolstered by 1200 troops who "trained for four months in Russia", according to the separatists' leader.

Russia's defence secretary has assured his US counterpart that there are no military personnel in its controversial aid convoy for Ukraine, the US says.

A one-year ban instituted by Russia on food imports from the West could hurt NZ's dairy trade, even though local exports are exempt, say economists.

A New Zealander, who was found guilty of a child sex crime committed in Russia, has lost his appeal against his conviction.

People should be sceptical of Moscow’s huge aid convoy to eastern Ukraine, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Despite all the talk of action against Vladimir Putin, Exxon Mobil, the largest US energy company is undeterred, starting work on $700m oil well in the Arctic.

Russia's sweeping bans on imports of European, US and Australian food may prove a diplomatically embarrassing bonanza for New Zealand's cheese exporters.

Nato officials say Russia has massed 20,000 troops in battle-readiness near the border, backed by Spetsnaz commandos, tanks and aircraft.

On the morning of July 15, Moscow was as hot as an oven.

Reports that land mines have been laid near the MH17 crash site in Ukraine are "utterly despicable", Australia's Foreign Minister says.

Russia's economy faces a financial stranglehold and President Vladimir Putin's inner circle will be hit with asset freezes and travel bans.

The former The X-Files star features in a new promo for Siberian Crown, in which the New York native muses about how different his life would be if he had been born in Russia.

Vladimir Putin is facing a multimillion-dollar legal action for his alleged role in the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine.

Russia's strongest political influence is not in relatively large countries, but in weaker countries that barely have a foreign policy debate at all.

A Russian multi-millionaire was granted a private audience with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during the royal tour after pledging $1 million to the national velodrome.

An orbital sex mission by five Russian geckos has gone from lust in space to lost in space.

While the 1962 Cuban missile crisis is widely regarded as the nearest the world has come to nuclear war, historians and military analysts believe we were even closer to the brink in late 1983.

The United States says it has evidence that Russia is planning to deliver "heavier and more powerful" rocket launchers to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Four days after Malaysia Airlines' Flight 17 was shot down, the families of the 298 people on board can only wonder what is happening to the remains of their loved ones.