Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Kabul Thursday in a surprise visit to meet with the country’s two presidential candidates to help accelerate the ballot auditing process and build upon the political framework for Afghanistan’s future government. A Senior State Department Official told reporters, “We really want to see …

Pro-Russian separatists have claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 military aircraft east of the country on Thursday. The fighter jet was shot down near the village of Zhdanivka, some 40kms northeast of the city of Donetsk, Russian-owned news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported quoting separatist sources.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev threatened to prevent foreign airplanes from passing through Russia’s airspace. Medvedev warned the US and the European Union against the sanctions imposed over Russia’s economy, noting that his country will have to take anti-sanctions measures, in a statement aired by the Russian television on