Russia's president criticized the Republican presidential candidate for expressing views that smacked of Hollywood stereotypes about relations between the former rivals.
Over the weekend, Obama warned that time is running out on Tehran.
Canadian miner Centerra Gold on Tuesday slashed its forecast for 2012 production at its flagship mine in Kyrgyzstan by about a third due to ice movement in the pit, a decline sure to weigh on the fragile economy of the Central Asian state.
After failed attempts in the U.N. Security Council to formulate a demand that President Bashar al-Assad end a deadly crackdown on dissenters, his government accepted Annan's six-point plan.
Syrian opposition activists gathered in Istanbul to endorse a program for political change to unify their movement, but the conference proved divisive even before officially opens Tuesday.
Germany's Pirate Party won four seats in the Saarland state parliament on Monday. The new party took an impressive 7.4 percent despite only having three months to prepare for the snap elections.
Italy's top winemakers are joining forces with the country's luxury goods elite as the world's second-biggest wine producer tries to give itself an edge in the battle for U.S. and emerging market customers amid falling consumption at home.
Russian gold production growth could slow to 3 percent in 2012, comparing with last year's 3.6 percent increase, due to declining output from several mines, the Gold Industrialists' Union said in a statement on Monday.
The United States and Turkey are formulating a plan to send non-lethal aid to Syria's embattled dissidents, a White House deputy national security adviser told reporters in Seoul on Sunday.
Annan has already received support for the plan from Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov
A Tibetan exile set himself on fire during a protest against the upcoming visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India in New Delhi on Monday.
Continuing his tirade against the West, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the US and NATO can no longer dictate policy for the rest of the world and warned that the NATO policy in Afghanistan and other countries would make Western relations with Pakistan worse.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev extended complete support to the UN-Arab League envoy in Syria, saying that Kofi Annan's resolution represented the last chance for preventing the violent insurgency from turning into a civil war. Medvedev's strong message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad came close on the heels of US President Barack Obama announcing his plans to send non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition.
Obama holds out prospect of cuts in US nuclear arsenal as he tries to rally world leaders against threat of nuclear terrorism.
President Obama was en route to South Korea Saturday for a two-day international nuclear security summit in Seoul as North Korea prepares to launch a satellite into space via rocket in April.
Although the area around the incident is rife with gang activity, police discounted that Gorbuntsov was targeted by local gangsters.
Of the 47 delegations at the Geneva talks, 41 voted in favor of the resolutions against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Russia, China and Cuba voted against it.
The European Union approved attacks against land-based targets in Somalia on Friday as part of its effort to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa.
China has already vowed to boycott the tax, while the U.S. and Russia have also objected to the scheme.
The wife of Syria's leader, Asma al-Assad, will suffer sanctions from the EU, including a travel ban to Europe and an asset freeze.
The North's provocative gesture comes as global leaders, including the presidents of the United States, China and Russia, prepare to meet next week in South Korea to discuss nuclear security issues.
Syria fits the bill of a nation that has made most of its friends by virtue of having common enemies. There is probably no other way to explain how this fiercely secular Arab nation has been commanding tremendous support from the religious fanatics that routinely make Iranian governments.