Moscow says an anti-Kremlin businessman living in Israel could be behind the radiation poisoning of Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, but the allegation only further complicates a spectacularly bizarre murder case. The prosecutor general said it had found links between the fatal poisoning of Litvinenko and Leonid Nevzlin, a former executive in the Yukos oil company who fled criminal charges in Russia.

Republicans won two key state elections that dealt a stinging blow to President Barack Obama and his Democrats 12 months after they swept into power.

There is not quite the drama of a Florida hurricane, or the poignancy of stranded polar bears, but Moscow babushka Larisa Bilik is struggling to sell her wool socks -- and global warming, experts say, is also to blame. The warmest November-December since records began has put Russia's fearsome winter on the back foot.

Spider-Man has peeled his mask back to reveal a new face: Miles Morales, a friendly neighbourhood teen from a black-hispanic family in New York.

The 17th-century figure, Kateri Tekakwitha, makes history when the Vatican canonises her but joy is mixed with painful memories for indigenous tribes.

Thousands of anti-corporate demonstrators backed for the first time by trade unions have raised the stakes in the revolt on Wall Street.

New York police arrested protesters celebrating the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street near the stock exchange over the weekend.

Occupy protesters got into the Thanksgiving spirit, congregating in the disputed New York square where their movement sprang up two months ago.