Russia on Friday officially opens in Sochi its first ever Winter Olympics with a lavish ceremony attended by dozens of heads of state and aimed at impressing a sceptical world with an unforgettable spectacle.
Washington's new top diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, has been apparently caught being decidedly undiplomatic about her EU allies in a phone call about Ukraine posted Thursday on YouTube.
Feted by Madonna and cheered by thousands, Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot defied President Vladimir Putin on the eve of the Sochi Olympics at a star-studded New York concert.
The US government warned American and foreign airlines Wednesday -- just ahead of the Sochi Olympics -- that terrorists could try to hide explosives in toothpaste tubes on Russia-bound flights.
Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot on Tuesday took their campaign against Vladimir Putin's civil liberties crackdown to New York, where they are to tread the same stage as Madonna.
Syria's opposition leader met Russia's top diplomat on Tuesday in a bid to persuade Moscow to pressure Damascus to agree to a transitional government for the war-scarred nation.
Before the Winter Olympic Games even kick off on Friday, Russian cinema-goers are savouring victories in sports-themed Kremlin-funded films, from a patriotic biopic of top athletes to a remake of "Some Like it Hot" set in Sochi.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych returns to work from four days of sick leave after opposition leaders appealed for Western assistance and an injured militant accused of rioting left the country for medical treatment.
World powers will hold their next talks on Tehran's contested nuclear programme February 18, top Iranian and European Union diplomats agreed during Friday talks.