Here are some floods you might have missed this year:

Russian state television is back on a war footing as a prime-time news program warns that the US wants to provoke a conflict.

The Vatican said on Tuesday that Pope Francis will expand access to confession for abortion, but it was not immediately clear if the pope's comments were symbolic or a change in Catholic Church practice.

The warning came as the Russian foreign ministry said relations with the US were the "most difficult period since the Cold War."

US President Barack Obama and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed a new era of friendship as they broke the deadlock on a long-stalled nuclear pact.