RUSSIA

China is boldly heading where few have gone before, but in the opposite direction from where most would imagine.

There's no way you can't love Mr. Trololo. For two minutes and 42 seconds, a Russian singer with a goofy, enormous smile plastered on his face slowly meanders around a stage singing seemingly pure gibberish. Mr. Trololo himself, Soviet singer Eduard Khil, died as a result of a stroke on Monday. He was 77.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to be pressured on the Syrian crisis when he meets with European leaders in St. Petersburg on Monday.

In the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of rebellious Europeans, Americans, and Aussies threw caution to the wind and traded their suburban upbringings for sarongs, sandals, and the allure of the East, marching along the hippie trail on a journey that would forever alter the course of history.

The recent discoveries of gas in the eastern Mediterranean creates a whole new energy paradigm for two nations -- Cyprus and Israel -- which formerly were believed to possess no natural resources at all. Their subsequent alliance has further upset the geopolitical balance in the Near East.

Newly elected French President Francois Hollande on Friday called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down to prevent continuing violence. No solution to this crisis is possible without the departure of Bashar al-Assad, Hollande said.

BP (NYSE:BP) announced Friday is it pursuing options to sell its interest in TNK-BP, a Russian oil company jointly owned with a local partner.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission officially condemned last week's Houla massacre in Syria.

BP PLC is selling its stake in Russia-based crude oil and natural gas venture TNK-BP after receiving a unsolicited indications of interest regarding the potential acquisition, the British company said Friday.

The question is whether, in light of growing human rights problems from China and Russia to the Middle East and North Africa, the United States is doing enough to factor human rights into its foreign policy.

With hopes of changing Moscow's stance on Damascus, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Russia's relationship with Syria is bringing the country toward civil war.

Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said in Washington on Wednesday that he will travel to Moscow in the very near future.

The Middle East situation is purely theoretical to the other nations on our planet, but not to Israeli Jews.

A history of the Russia-Syria military relationship, starting with the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has opened a new front in his critique of President Obama's foreign policy, assailing the president's lack of leadership on Syria and calling for the United States to arm the Syrian opposition.

Several parts of Homs were shelled Wednesday morning while Damascus witnessed overnight explosions, close on the heels of UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's warning that the recent violence had left Syria at a tipping point.

Google Wednesday observed the 166th birth anniversary of Peter Carl Fabergé, the Russian jeweler best known for creating famous Fabergé eggs, through a doodle that was made of precious metals and gemstones.

Opera Software shares soared over 20 percent on Tuesday on talk Facebook Inc. was in discussion to buy the firm, while analysts said competition from Google and others could push the price tag of any deal over $1 billion.

A boatload of Russian arms will arrive in Syria next weekend, a Western source told the Al Arabia television station on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the P5+1 group on Tuesday for being too lenient on Iran.

Turkey?s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former ally of Assad, also expressed his outrage over the killings.