CHINA

The Russian defense ministry has denied claims that a small division of ships carrying several hundred marines is bound for the Syrian port of Tartus.

Secretary Hillary Clinton is in South Sudan today, and met with the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan to spur them towards a compromise in light of the escalating violence.

Next week will be a reasonably quiet one for both the U.S. and the euro zone, but China will be dumping a whole bunch of macro data for July .

The U.S. women's basketball team looks to stay undefeated at the 2012 Olympics when they take on the Czech Republic on Friday. The two teams are set to square off at 5:15 p.m. ET in London.

China has banned Muslim officials and students under the age of 18 in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang from fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in an effort to clamp down on religious extremism.

Traffic Jams and speeding motorists are a constant threat to pedestrians in China. To solve this problem, this time, it's not the Chinese traffic police that have set in to take control of the situation, but it is a granny who has come up with a creative solution to distract the motorists from speeding. Her distraction for the motorists is a sex doll, which she tied to a tree at the corner where most motorcyclists were speeding.

A whiff of change from the world's most mysterious regime?

Despite a recent uptick in use, intrauterine devices (IUDs) are still far from popular, with use by American women lagging well behind birth control pills and condoms.

Three international aid agencies working in Bangladesh have been reportedly asked to halt their activities on the ground that they were facilitating the Rohingya refugees from strife-torn Myanmar to travel across the border into the country.

Asian stock markets declined Friday as sentiment was dampened after the European Central Bank (ECB) failed to offer any new stimulus measures to resolve the sovereign crisis in the euro zone.

China's services activity growth recovered in July to the fastest pace in nine months after the slowdown in June, according to the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) released Friday.

Kofi Annan's decision to resign as UN-Arab League joint special envoy to Syria has thrown the violence and lack of diplomatic solution into sharp relief.

Michael Phelps claimed his record setting 16th career gold medal, and 20th overall as he won the men's 200m individual medley. He defeated his USA teammate, Ryan Lochte, who took the silver.

The orbiter should assume its position around Mars by September 2014.

Some top players from Asia were disqualified from competition for "tanking" matches.

The prohibition on eating pork is something shared by Muslims and Jews.

Watch live coverage of the women's individual all-around competition at the London Olympics, plus a full preview.

China has given a go-ahead for its first major tender of oil and gas blocks in the South China Sea, close on the heels of Beijing establishing a military garrison on a disputed island in the waters.

Asian stock markets declined Thursday as investors awaited the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting later in the day after Federal Reserve did not offer any new monetary measures overnight.

After the disgraceful episode of "throwing the match" and the subsequent ouster of eight badminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesia from the London Olympics, it was "apology time" Thursday for those involved. Chinese top seeded player Yu Yang has tweeted her decision to quit badminton following the incident and blamed the WBF for shattering her dreams.

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for the Syrian rebels, U.S. sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters.