UKRAINE

Opposition leader Tymoshenko, 51, has been on a hunger strike for nearly a week, after alleging guards punched her in the stomach and twisted her body as they transported her to a local hospital to treat a spinal condition.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven year prison sentence on an abuse of office conviction, went on a hunger strike to protest the “concentration camp of violence and lawlessness” created in her country by current president President Viktor Yanukovych.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister, was moved back to her cell after a short stint in the hospital. She refused treatment from doctors for an undisclosed medical issue.

China and Russia are making military history this weekend with the first bilateral naval exercises the two governments have ever conducted together.

TNK-BP, Russia's third largest oil producer, replied Friday to the government's announcement it would be sued for oil leaks that have polluted two Siberian river basins, saying most of the damage is a result of inherited environmental problems, accumulated since 1962. TNK-BP pointed to its ongoing $500-million cleanup fund as evidence it is committed to greening up some of Russia's oldest facilities

Russian retail group Bosco, which owns Moscow's famous GUM department store, has opened a store in the shadow of London's Olympic Stadium, its first venture into western Europe.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. (TYO:9501), or Tepco, operator of the failed Fukushima nuclear power plant, has asked the Japanese government for in additional bailout money to pay for mounting expenses, including compensation costs to victims of the nuclear meltdown.

Eighteen year old Oksana Makar died Thursday two weeks after her horrific gang rape caused nationwide protests in Ukraine over corruption and elitism of the wealthy.

Its unique position straddling Europe and Asia and a tumultuous history tell only part of the story of why Russia faces an unprecedented challenge for an industrialized country.

John Demjanjuk, the former Nazi guard convicted for his involvement with the deaths of 28,000 people, will be buried in Cleveland, Ohio, the city where he settled after fleeing Germany after World War II.

Madonna recruited the talent of gender-bending Ukrainian quartet Kazaky for her “Girl Gone Wild” video.

Americans travelling to the Olympics could be exposed to measles and should be vaccinated before they go, the CDC warned.

China has become less dependent on arms imports and, at the same time, has increased the volume of its arms exports, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

John Demjanjuk, a former Ford autoworker and convicted Nazi, died Saturday in the Bavarian town of Bad Feilnbach at the age of 91. Demjanjuk, who was a guard at the Sobibor Nazi death camp in Poland during World War II, was sentenced to five years in jail in 2011.

The International Monetary Fund is highly unlikely to approve Ukraine's request to restructure $3 billion of loan repayments due this year, but the fact that the government is even considering such a move demonstrates the extent to which it is running out of options, according to Capital Economics.

Farmers and investors are booking profits from a worldwide rally in food grains, but agricultural veterans see potential setbacks.

Some members of Ukraine's parliament, on a visit to Damascus, expressed solidarity with Assad as well as opposition to foreign intervention in the Middle Eastern country.

Greek tourism revenues could drop by up to five percent in 2012 due to a fall in pre-bookings from Germany, industry officials said Wednesday, denting hopes the key sector will help pull the country out of the Eurozone financial crisis.

The United Nations humanitarian chief Valarie Amos arrived in Syria on Wednesday and is headed to the embattled city of Homs, which has been under assault by Syrian government forces for over a month.

German sportswear group Adidas stuck to forecasts for a slowdown in sales growth in 2012, disappointing investors who had hoped for more in a banner year for sports events with the Olympics and European soccer championships.

Molson Coors Brewing Co said on Tuesday it will launch Coors Light Iced Tea and other new products, as the beer company fights to win a greater share of the struggling beer market.