The UN Security Council on Thursday backed a plan by UN leader Ban Ki-moon for a joint mission with the global chemical arms watchdog to destroy Syria's weapons.
Despite its expertise at risky protests, Greenpeace's head admitted he was "extremely surprised" by Russia's response in the Arctic and never imagined activists would face piracy charges and years in jail.
The world's chemical watchdog said Tuesday it will send a second team of inspectors to help dismantle Syria's arsenal, as regime warplanes bombed rebels in the northwest of the country.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad could take "credit" for quickly starting the process of destroying his regime's chemical weapons arsenal and thanked Russia for its help.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop expressed concern to Russia about an Australian crew member of a Greenpeace ship facing a "very serious" piracy charge over an Arctic oil exploration protest.
The United States hit out Wednesday at Russian troops' efforts to build a de facto border in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Dozens of angry protesters tried to storm Russia's embassy in Tripoli on Wednesday after reports that a Russian woman had killed a Libyan army officer.
The arrival in Damascus of a chemical disarmament team on Tuesday is the result of an unprecedented, gruelling US-Russian deal that averted regional war.
Syria's stockpile of chemical agents is largely "unweaponized" and could be eradicated more quickly than initially thought, the Washington Post reported Thursday citing a confidential US and Russian assessment.
The United States and Russia agreed a draft UN Security Council resolution Thursday on destroying Syria's chemical weapons, breaking a prolonged deadlock over the country's bitter conflict.
An American and two Russians blasted off Thursday for the International Space Station atop a Soyuz rocket that will slash more than a day off the usual travel time.