U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev failed to clinch a landmark pact cutting Cold War stocks of nuclear arms on Friday but pledged to keep working for a deal in the New Year.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday he saw no need for a new security treaty proposed by Russia, rebuffing the Kremlin's call for new defense arrangements in Europe.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Russia on Wednesday to give the Western military alliance more help in Afghanistan but failed to get an immediate pledge of assistance from the Kremlin.
The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi issued his first public statement on Tuesday saying that love always defeats envy and hatred two days after he was attacked.
World leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as Pope Benedict XVI sent condolences on Monday to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who was attacked Sunday at a rally in Milan.
Flags flew at half mast and entertainment programs were canceled across Russia on Monday as the country mourned 112 victims of a weekend nightclub inferno and dozens more fought for their lives in hospitals.
The United States signaled on Thursday its patience with Iran was wearing thin, saying Tehran was rapidly approaching a December deadline to accept a U.N.-brokered nuclear deal with Western powers.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he would not leave Russian politics any time soon, telling a questioner asking about his departure: Do not hold your breath.
Debt in Dubai and the interplay of politics and IMF deals in Ukraine, Romania and Latvia provide the main political risks to regional emerging markets in December, while in Nigeria presidential health will be in focus.
World leaders expressed confidence in the global economic recovery on Friday despite fears about a debt default by Gulf emirate Dubai, while major banks played down their exposure to the debt.
President Dmitry Medvedev scolded leaders of Russia's ruling party on Saturday for bad political habits and ordered them to win future elections fairly.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to change an agreement on supplies of Russian natural gas whose terms he said were too onerous for the Ukrainian economy.
The European Union's Swedish presidency urged Russia on Wednesday to do more to combat climate change and discussed Russian energy supplies to Europe, which could be threatened by a dispute with Ukraine.
President Dmitry Medvedev pledged on Thursday to disband Russia's inefficient state corporations, created by his predecessor Vladimir Putin, and called for a probe in to their use of state money.
Russia's pro-Western opposition on Thursday dismissed President Dmitry Medvedev's promises to reform the political system as empty and said they saw little prospect of an easing of Kremlin domination.
A former Russian policeman, who accused officers in his home town of corruption in blogs that had more than one million Internet hits, said on Tuesday he wanted to discuss the affair with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
A junior Russian policeman was fired on Sunday after making a YouTube appeal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accusing senior officers of corruption, a claim dismissed by authorities as false, news agencies reported.
Russia accused General Motors of showing the United States' scorn of business with Europe by abandoning its sale of Opel, whose German workers went on strike on Thursday.
The mood in the global automotive industry has shifted to cautious optimism, marked by the unveiling on Wednesday of Chrysler's turnaround plan and General Motors' plan to keep its Opel unit.
German and Russian leaders seethed and unions tore up a deal to cut costs in protest at General Motors' completely unacceptable decision to keep Opel, its European unit, after months of talks.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen hopes to secure Russian help in equipping and training Afghan security forces during a visit to Moscow in December, an alliance spokesman said on Wednesday.
President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization had not been damaged by the complications of pursuing membership together with Kazakhstan and Belarus.
