Charges against 29 Greenpeace activists, including two Kiwis, who faced prison in Russia have been dropped following a Kremlin amnesty.

A group of Greenpeace activists, including two New Zealanders, are trying to stay realistic over their chances of being home for Christmas, after the Russian parliament backed an amnesty bill to drop charges against them.

President Vladimir Putin cast Russia as a defender of conservative values against the "genderless and infertile" Western tolerance that he said equates good and evil.

Time magazine has named Pope Francis its person of the year, saying that in nine months in office the head of the Catholic Church had become a new voice of conscience.

Pro-European demonstrators toppled the statute of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, from its plinth in central Kiev as record numbers flooded the city streets.

One of the two New Zealand Greenpeace protesters charged with hooliganism by Russian authorities has walked out of jail on bail today.

The first of 30 Greenpeace activists arrested by Russia in an Arctic protest two months ago has been freed on bail, in a case that has drawn attention both to Russia's ambitions in the region and its hard line against dissent.

One of the two New Zealand Greenpeace protesters jailed in Russia on hooliganism charges has been told he will be released on bail.

Within five seconds, a dot of light that Russian authorities say is a Boeing 737 appears in the sky over the tarmac and plunges to the ground in a near-vertical crash.

A Russian passenger airliner 'hit the runway and burst into flames' near Kazan this morning, killing 50 people - but officials say no children were among the dead.

Pop legend Madonna has joined a chorus of international stars in urging the release of 30 Greenpeace crew members jailed after a protest against energy prospecting in the Arctic.

The 30 people arrested following a Greenpeace protest at a Russian oil rig in the Arctic have been transferred to St. Petersburg, Greenpeace International and Russian transport officials said.

A Russian performance artist nailed his genitals to the ground outside Moscow's Red Square in protest over Russia's "police state" as the country marked national police day.

The European Space Agency says one of its research satellites re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on an orbit that passed over Siberia, the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica.

A one-tonne satellite operated by the European Space Agency has run out of fuel and will fall back to Earth in an unknown location sometime in the next few days.

Scientists studying the terrifying meteor that exploded without warning over a Russian city last winter say the threat of space rocks smashing into Earth is bigger than they thought.

Actors Jonah Hill, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell are among a batch of celebrities donning Russian-language "Love Conquers Hate" T-shirts to show support for gays in Russia alarmed by a new law banning pro-gay "propaganda".

Two Kiwis protesting against deep-sea oil drilling are caught in the middle of a high-stakes power play.

Russia has dropped piracy charges against jailed Greenpeace activists - including two New Zealanders - and charged them with hooliganism instead.