The slavery drama "12 Years a Slave" won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first movie from a black director to win the film industry's highest honor in 86 years of the Oscars. British director Steve McQueen's unflinching portrayal of pre-Civil War...

Ukraine said  Russia  was building up armored vehicles on its side of a narrow stretch of water near the Ukrainian region of Crimea after President Vladimir Putin said he had the right to invade his neighbor, prompting a sell-off in Russian assets. Ukraine mobilized for war...

Millions of children in the Middle East will be vaccinated against polio this month after the crippling disease resurfaced in conflict-hit Syria, the United Nations said Sunday. Mass vaccinations have already been launched in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria, while a similar campaign in...

Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews held a mass prayer in Jerusalem on Sunday in protest at a bill that would cut their community's military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel's foundation. Ultra-Orthodox leaders had called on their men, women and children...