// Mar. 23, 2010 - 00:52 GMT

Google has decided to close its Internet search service based in inland China over censorship concerns and will direct Chinese users to a Hong Kong-based uncensored version of its search engine.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 00:52 GMT

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov will discuss military cooperation with the Vietnamese authorities during his visit to the south-east Asian state on Tuesday.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 01:43 GMT

Britain will launch on Tuesday its national space agency, becoming the last of the major space-exploring nations to establish its own executive body responsible for space activities.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 02:50 GMT

More than 2,000 people have been left homeless as heavy rains have hit southern Brazil.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 03:24 GMT

Medical tests have shown that 45 children are suffering from lead poisoning in China's central Hunan province.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 04:00 GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet on Tuesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in a bid to repair ties with Washington strained over Israel's plans for new settlement construction in the Palestinian territories.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 05:07 GMT

Four young people, including a female student, were detained in northeast Moscow early on Monday after shooting at a police post, a police source told RIA Novosti.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 05:41 GMT

Cuba's former president Fidel Castro does exercises every day, avoids late night eating, and is doing very well for his age, Cuban leader Raul Castro said on Tuesday.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 06:50 GMT

Russia insists on the inclusion of U.S. missile defenses in Europe in a new strategic arms reduction treaty between the two countries in order to ensure nuclear parity, Russia's top military commander said.

// Mar. 23, 2010 - 07:30 GMT