Russia
Unmanned Russian rocket crashes after launch in Kazakhstan
ALMATY, Kazakhstan - An unmanned Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites crashed shortly after lift-off from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Russian media reported. There were no reported injuries.
Snowden blames Obama for trying to block his efforts to find asylum
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, charged with leaking secret U.S. surveillance information, said the Obama administration was denying him his right to seek asylum, according to a statement released by the WikiLeaks organization on Monday.
Edward Snowden's letter to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa
LONDON - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, currently in a transit zone at a Moscow airport, has broken his silence for the first time since fleeing to Russia eight days ago to say he remains free to make new disclosures about U.S. spying activity.
Ecuador's Correa says Snowden's fate in hands of Russia
PORTOVIEJO, Ecuador - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Sunday the fate of former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is in the hands of the authorities in Russia, where he is holed up in hope of obtaining asylum in the South American nation.
Wikileaks founder says Snowden info will keep getting published
WASHINGTON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Sunday that Edward Snowden made sure that the information he took about U.S. surveillance programs will continue to be published regardless of what happens to the former U.S. spy agency contractor.
Schmolz+Bickenbach chairman throws in the towel: paper
ZURICH - Swiss steelmaker Schmolz+Bickenbach's chairman acknowledged that Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg had won a long-running power struggle over the indebted firm, in a statement published in a newspaper on Sunday.
Russian pro-, anti-gay activists clash, police detain dozens
ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Police detained dozens of people when pro- and anti-gay activists clashed in the Russian city of St Petersburg on Saturday, just two weeks after parliament passed a law banning homosexual "propaganda".
North Korea to discuss nuclear talks in Moscow - report
MOSCOW - North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will meet senior Russian officials in Moscow next week, state media reported, amid signs of a new push to get Pyongyang to re-join protracted talks over ending its atomic program.
Russian tycoon bids for control of Swiss steelmaker
LUCERNE, Switzerland - Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg has launched a bid to control Swiss steelmaker Schmolz+Bickenbach after he failed to win support from shareholders to raise more capital and install his preferred candidate on the company's board.
How Gazprom's $1 trillion dream has fallen apart
MOSCOW - Zoya Danilina, who owns some 700 shares in Gazprom , says investors don't have to look far to understand that Russia's most powerful company has lost its way.
Egypt's Mursi rebuffs army ultimatum, sets own course
CAIRO - President Mohamed Mursi rebuffed an army ultimatum to force a resolution to Egypt's political crisis, saying on Tuesday that he had not been consulted and would pursue his own plans for national reconciliation. | Video
Ethiopia and Eritrea: An elusive peace on the cards?
Ethiopia and Eritrea are still at each others’ throats. The two neighbours fought hammer and tongs in sun-baked trenches during a two-year war over a decade ago, before a peace deal ended their World War I-style conflict in 2000. Furious veRed Sea, UNrbal battles, however, have continued to this day.


