RUSSIA

Vladimir Putin accepted his ruling United Russia party's nomination on Sunday as its candidate in a March 4 presidential vote, paving the way for his return to the country's top office after four years as prime minister.

Super heavyweight lifter Vasily Alekseyev, who dominated the sport throughout the 1970s, and also became a Soviet-era Cold War icon, has died at the age of 69.

Arab officials will prepare plans for sanctions against Syria on Saturday over its failure to let Arab League monitors oversee an initiative aimed at ending a violent crackdown on protesters seeking an end to President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Two Oscar foreign-language contenders, Iran's A Separation and Turkey's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, were the big winners at Thursday's Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which took place in Queensland, Australia.

Russian TV anchor and award-winning journalist Tatiana Limanova was recently taken off the air after giving the finger following the mention of U.S. President Barack Obama's name in a live newscast.

Moscow will have the rights to raise the price of gas in the coming years.

China is set to embrace Canada's offer of more crude, heating up competition with the United States as the world's top two oil consumers jostle to secure supplies and meet ravenous demand.

Indian Rupee gained Thursday, breaking an eight-session losing streak, after the country's central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), took several measures to stem the fall of rupee against the greenback.

The world's biggest annual arts extravaganza is gearing up to lure fans from the London 2012 Olympics up to the Scottish capital for three weeks of comedy, music, art, theater, the skirl of massed pipe bands and fireworks over Edinburgh castle.

Russia has again warned the U.S. about deploying a missile defense system in Europe, with President Dmitry Medvedev saying his nation will deploy new missiles aimed at the shield if the U.S. goes forward with its plan.

President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Russia will deploy new missiles aimed at the American missile defense system in Europe if it does not go ahead with an agreement with Washington and NATO on how the systems will be built.

Celebrity restaurants, long a fixture of New York and London, are now a confirmed Russian fad with the recent opening of a Moscow venue by a home-grown filmmaker raising the tally of eateries and bars backed by artists, actors, socialites.

Scientists have picked up a signal from Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. The craft was launched earlier this month, but scientists soon lost contact with it.

However, the statement makes no mention of sanctions.

A U.S. official emphasized that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and North Korea will not resume until the Hermit Kingdom agrees to recommit to nuclear disarmament as specified by the 2005 Six-Party-Talks.

Despite mounting pressure from the U.S. and the European Union, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has insisted on keeping former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko imprisoned on a conviction of power abuse.

It was unclear what exact steps the Treasury planned for Iran but it seemed unlikely it would seek to cut off the Iranian financial sector entirely, a move that could disrupt the global energy markets and harm the U.S. economic recovery.

According to McAfee's third quarter security threats report, Android OS solidified its lead as the primary target for new mobile malware. Nearly all new mobile malware in Q3 was targeted at Android devices.

Arsene Wenger has been at the helm of English Premier League club Arsenal's affairs for 15 years now and is one of the longest serving managers in the league.

U.S. overspending on the military has diverted resources from civilian / social investments, weakening the economy, and, by extension weakening the nation. If it doesn’t substantially cut defense spending, the U.S.’s empire will likely share the fate of two other empires that overspent on the military -- the British Empire and the Soviet Union.

The International Monetary Fund is inserting itself more forcefully into Europe's efforts to resolve its debt crisis, hoping to stem a contagion that is spreading worldwide and threatening global growth.