His statement came before the Romanian President said the US plans to increase the number of troops stationed at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base

Japan hunts around a thousand whales in the Southern Ocean each year

Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen has confirmed Norway's former premier Jens Stoltenberg will succeed him as new chief of the military alliance in October.

A report shows that the UK outperforms only Malta and Luxembourg

Obama is the ninth US president to make an official visit to the Vatican

The US President, Barack Obama, has issued a warning to Russia’s Vladimir Putin to keep his troops out of Ukraine or face even tougher sanctions, calling Russia a “regional power” which would struggle to compete with America’s global influence.

It's a scene straight from a Hollywood script: world leaders are faced with a rogue terrorist in possession of a dirty bomb and have minutes to decide how to save their nations from nuclear catastrophe. But it was not in Los Angeles that such a scenario played out this week: it was in the leafy surrounds of The Hague in the Netherlands, a city better known for its international courts and seaside walks.

Q. How many people are now under sanctions?

Putin made official the act that triggered the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War

Report warns that across the world, water, essential for survival, is running low – with water tables falling in every continent

In a new online survey, 116,000 people in 194 countries picked their priorities for 2014. Top of the (long) list? 'Fighting political corruption'. Jane Merrick reports on a new, action-based global order

The meeting comes ahead of a pivotal referendum in Crimea on Sunday

The comments come days before a referendum to decide whether the contentious Crimean peninsula remains in Ukraine

But women still struggle to become prime minister or president