Russia received a positive initial signal from North Korea after President Vladimir Putin invited its leader Kim Jong Un to attend anniversary celebrations of the Soviet victory over Germany in World War Two, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Germany's Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she hoped a new round of talks with Ukraine and Russia in Berlin could help implement an elusive ceasefire in eastern Ukraine but warned against expecting too much, given another upsurge in the violence.
France is to recruit thousands of extra police, spies and investigators to boost national security and intelligence, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Wednesday, two weeks after 17 people were killed by Islamist militants.
California lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday to legalize assisted suicide in the most populous U.S. state, an effort tearfully welcomed by a woman whose daughter moved to Oregon last year to avail herself of a death-with-dignity law there.
