Pope Francis and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba next week in a historic step to heal the 1,000-year-old schism that divided Christianity between East and West, both churches announced.

Some of the stranger stories from around the globe

Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the legendary AK-47 assault rifle, turned to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the months before his death to express remorse for those killed by his invention.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle, apparently wrote a regretful letter several months before his death asking the head of the Russian Orthodox Church if he was to blame for those killed by his gun.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended conservative values, referring indirectly to his government’s anti-gay stance as he criticised the West for treating “good and evil” equally.

US Senator John McCain has insisted he is “more pro-Russian” than President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of corruption, repression and self-serving rule in an opinion piece for Pravda newspaper.

A bill attacking Russia’s gay community and banning the distribution of information about homosexuality to children has been overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament.

Moscow police interrupted a play featuring the trial of punk rockers Pussy Riot yesterday and warned its Swiss director for violating visa rules in what a government critic said was part of an anti-Western campaign.

A Moscow appeals court has freed one of the jailed Pussy Riot members but upheld the two-year prison sentence for the two others.

A Russian court has postponed the appeal of three members of jailed rock band Pussy Riot until October 10 after one of them fired her lawyers.

A Russian court will hear an appeal today by three jailed members of the rock band Pussy Riot, who were given two years for performing a “punk prayer” against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s main cathedral.

The Russian Orthodox Church is asking for clemency for three jailed members of the rock band Pussy Riot if they repent for their “punk prayer” for deliverance from president Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s main cathedral.

President Vladimir Putin signalled in an interview aired yesterday that Russia was not ready to shift its stance on Syria, and suggested Western nations were relying on groups such as al Qaeda to help drive President Bashar al-Assad from power.

THERE’S nothing orthodox about John Johansson.

Two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot who were being sought by police have fled the country. the band said today.

The jailing in Moscow of three members of the punk rock group Pussy Riot is a stark reminder of the importance of free speech and the right to dissent within a functioning democracy.

Two top clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church said today that it has forgiven the members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot who were convicted of hooliganism and sent to prison for briefly taking over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Vladimir Putin.

Three members of the punk band Pussy Riot have each been sentenced to two years in prison on hooliganism charges following a trial that has drawn international outrage as an emblem of Russia’s intolerance of dissent.

Three members of the provocative punk band Pussy Riot have been found guilty of hooliganism, in one of the most closely watched cases in recent Russian history.

US pop icon Madonna drew the wrath of Russian ministers and the Church again as she took her gay rights activism to a city that has just banned “homosexual propaganda”.

Members of the Pussy Riot girl band yesterday likened themselves to dissidents from the Soviet era yesterdat, saying their trial for performing an anti-Kremlin stunt in a church was unjust, but that nobody could take away their inner freedom.

Madonna appealed for the release of three members of the punk group Pussy Riot at her Russian concert last night.

The feminist Russian punk band on trial for protesting against Vladimir Putin have accused their judge of being politically biased and ignoring their side of the story.

Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a “punk prayer” on the altar of Russia’s main cathedral have gone on trial in a case seen as a test of the long-time leader’s treatment of dissent during a new presidential term.

The trial of feminist punk rockers who chanted a “punk prayer” against President Vladimir Putin from the pulpit of Russia’s largest cathedral is starting in Moscow.

Police have arrested more than 20 demonstrators as a Moscow court considers extending the detention of three female punk rockers arrested after a surprise protest performance against Vladimir Putin.

Two female punk rockers have been ordered to remain in jail awaiting trial for praying to the Virgin Mary to deliver the nation from Vladimir Putin in a surprise performance in the country’s main Orthodox cathedral.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has urged the government to listen to protesters demanding free elections.

President Mary McAleese today begins a four-day official visit to Russia to build business links with the country.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese will make a four- day visit to Russia next week in a bid to build business links between the countries, it was disclosed yesterday.

President Mary McAleese will make a four-day visit to Russia next week in a bid to build business links between the countries, it was disclosed today.

TWO Russian art curators who angered church leaders with an exhibition that included images of Christ as Mickey Mouse and Lenin were convicted yesterday of inciting religious hatred, but escaped prison sentences.

Two Russian art curators who angered church leaders with an exhibition that included images of Christ as Mickey Mouse and Lenin were convicted today of inciting religious hatred, but escaped prison sentences.

Two Moscow art curators are facing prison after being accused of staging a show that allegedly mocked religion.

IT MAY have come to your attention that there is a Heineken Cup semi-final tomorrow.

Pope Benedict XVI began a week-long Bible-reading marathon on Italian television – appropriately with “In the beginning”.

DNA tests carried out by a US laboratory prove that remains exhumed last year belong to two children of Czar Nicholas II, putting to rest questions about what happened to Russia’s last royal family, a regional governor said yesterday.

A Russian doomsday cult have sealed themselves in a cave threatening to commit suicide if anyone disturbs them.

Russian president Vladimir Putin warned against political ideas “placed above basic values” as he, for the first time, joined public commemorations on the 70th anniversary of mass killings ordered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

There is a “high probability” that bones found recently in Russia belonged to a daughter and son of the last czar, an official said today.

IRELAND’S war dead were honoured at a ceremony in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, yesterday.

Russian police detained gay rights activists, including at least two European lawmakers and the British campaigner Peter Tatchell, as they tried to hold a demonstration in central Moscow today while members of a hostile crowd punched the activists and pelted them with eggs.

Russia bid a solemn farewell today to Boris Yeltsin, its first post-Soviet leader, in a funeral presided over by some two dozen white-robed priests and a crowd of dignitaries including President Vladimir Putin and two former US leaders.