Russian diva Yelena Isinbayeva goes for a third Olympic gold medal on Monday, aiming to prove she remains the undisputed queen of women's pole vaulting.
World powers traded blame on Friday after Kofi Annan quit as international peace envoy to Syria, complaining that his initiative to end the bloodshed there never received the support it deserved.
China expressed regret Friday over former UN chief Kofi Annan's resignation as international envoy for Syria and said it would continue to "work for a political resolution" to the conflict.
A group of British musicians including Pete Townshend and the Pet Shop Boys have urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to give a fair trial to punk band Pussy Riot.
Over 67 years since he disappeared into the Soviet prison system, the fate of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg remains shrouded in mystery despite decades of work to find the truth.
The Russian cargo ship that undocked from the International Space Station to perform tests managed to re-couple Sunday after a failed attempt earlier in the week.
Once banned as "bourgeois", the work of painter Marc Chagall is enjoying a revival in the ex-Soviet Union with a new exhibition delving into the influence folk art and his Russian Jewish roots had on his work.
In February, five women walked silently into Moscow's Church of Christ the Saviour before clambering over railings, pulling on balaclavas and yelling out a protest song against Vladimir Putin.
Less than three months after starting his historic third term as Kremlin chief, President Vladimir Putin has imposed a new clampdown on civil society that is sending Russia to an uncertain future.
Rebels seized control of Syria's border crossings with Iraq on the bloodiest day of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, as China and Russia dismayed the West by blocking UN action against his regime.
Canada issued a scathing retort on Thursday after Russia and China vetoed another UN resolution to pressure the Syrian regime to rein in its crackdown on a 16-month-old rebellion.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and international envoy Kofi Annan called on the UN Security Council to take strong action on the Syria conflict ahead of a vote Thursday on a western-backed resolution calling for sanctions.