RUSSIA

China and Russia have vetoed a resolution by the U.N. Security Council calling for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad amid worsening violence in that country. The resolution backed a similar resolution proposed earlier by the Arab League.

With worries growing over computer hacking, data theft and the risk of digital attacks destroying essential systems, western states and their allies are co-operating closer than ever on cyber security.

Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear program even if its crude-oil exports grind to a halt, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday. But Rostam Qasemi also called on the European Union to review its recent decision to ban Iranian oil imports as of July 1.

Russia sought to delay a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, warning on Saturday of a so-called scandal should the current draft be put to council members, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

More than 200 people were killed in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs, activists said on Saturday, as the U.N. Security Council prepared to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.

ndia's 1.3 million-strong armed forces, hobbled by outdated equipment and slow decision-making, are undergoing an overhaul as defence priorities shift to China from traditional rival Pakistan. It took 11 years to select France's Rafale.

More than 200 people were killed in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs, activists said on Saturday, as the U.N. Security Council prepared to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.

In some cases, gas supplies have been reduced by as much as 30 percent.

After two decades, Russian scientists have finally drilled through 13,000 feet of an Antarctic ice sheet to reach Lake Vostok, deemed the most alien lake on Earth, which has been sealed off from the planet's atmosphere for 20 million years.

A Maine seafarer said he had found the wreck of a World War II merchant ship off the Massachusetts coast, sunk while carrying a cargo of the precious metal platinum valued today at nearly $3 billion, an unprecedented find that has raised some doubts.

The unusually low temperature conditions prevailing in Europe for the past one week have boosted the demand for gas supplies forcing Russian gas provider Gazprom to reduce the volume of its deliveries.

Russia has accused European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton of interfering in the country's internal affairs.

Russia shot down suggestions from some U.N. Security Council members of an imminent deal on a draft resolution aimed at stopping Syria's bloody upheaval, warning it would veto the current text if it were put to a vote on Friday.

The United States, European governments and Arab states have begun discussing the possibility of exile for Bashar al-Assad despite skepticism that the defiant Syrian president is ready to consider such an offer, Western officials say.

Russian firms produced 209.0 tonnes of gold in 2011, 3.6 percent more than in 2010, but below an earlier forecast, data published on Wednesday by the Gold Industrialists' Union industry lobby showed.

A new website has been launched by the Russian government in order to monitor bureaucratic inefficiency and stupidity in the struggling nation.

Russia blamed radiation on Tuesday for a computer glitch that doomed its Mars moon mission, but space industry experts cast doubt on the findings of an investigation into the crash of what was to be Moscow's first deep space mission in two decades.

A Cambodia-flagged cargo ship, carrying scrap metal, sank in the stormy waters of Turkey's Black Sea port of Zonguldak Tuesday. The ship was sailing from Russia to the Turkish Aegean port of Aliaga, officials said.

Russia continues to sell arms to Syria as the Assad regime cracks down on political upheaval.

India's potential combat jet deal with preferred bidder Dassault Aviation is one of the many the country wants to implement. It plans to spend about $50 billion over the next five years to upgrade its military.

Italian luxury shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo is close to agreeing a deal to pay a record UK rent at its Bond Street store that will break the 1,000 pounds per square foot mark for the first time.