The process of obtaining US visas in Russia has not changed yet and is still being made as difficult as possible, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

A lead activist of the French anti-fuel tax movement said Thursday that demonstrations would go ahead this weekend until all their demands are met.

The congress of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Hamburg on December 7 demonstrated that the political party was deeply divided over migration amid the lack of any effective migration policy, a situation that stands to strengthen the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's positions, AfD's spokesman in the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs Petr Bystron told Sputnik.

The estimated 4 million children born in Syria over the past eight years of the country's conflict are growing up only knowing war, UNICEF said in a press release on Thursday.

The 216th Corps Commanders' Conference, held here at the General Headquarters (GHQ) on Thursday reviewed geo-strategic environment with special focus on regional security and situation on eastern and western borders including Line of Control.

The OPEC-non-OPEC deal will ensure stability of the long-term development of the Russian economy, and will reduce the volatility of its financial market, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said Thursday.

China held a national memorial ceremony Thursday to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre committed by Japanese invaders after the fall of the Chinese capital in 1937.

Israeli forces encircled Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and sent in reinforcements after a gunman shot dead two Israelis at a bus stop in the area, the army said.

China and Pakistan have agreed to build upon the consensus reached between the leadership of two countries during the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China, a Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson said on Thursday.