Holocaust survivors and world leaders are preparing to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Red Army.

The mood music around the election of left-wing Syriza in Greece changed significantly in the EU as voting day approached.

European Union leaders will today sign a trade deal with Ukraine designed to give economic support to the beleaguered state in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

President Barack Obama and French president Francois Hollande have said they are committed to a political solution in Syria even as they prepare for potential military strikes.

The Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament has rammed through a harsh bill that raises fines 150-fold for people taking part in unsanctioned rallies, in a move aimed at discouraging the opposition from challenging President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given several ministers purged from his Cabinet new positions in his administration.

AN AGING Russian airliner went down in heavy fog and burst into flames just short of a runway in northwestern Russia, killing 44 people in a crash that officials blamed on pilot error.

BRITISH jets hit a military barracks in the Libyan capital early yesterday, further intensifying NATO pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to end his 42-year rule.

RUSSIA angrily hit back yesterday at US claims that it had smashed a Moscow-organised spy ring, saying the accusations were reminiscent of the Cold War and could damage efforts to improve relations.

Russia today urged US-led forces in Afghanistan to crack down harder on drug production there, and offered to help put a security "ring" round the country.

Thousands of mourners threw flowers on a slow-moving hearse and joined an enormous viewing line at Warsaw’s Presidential Palace to pay their respects to Lech Kaczynski and his wife as their bodies lay in state.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche has finished runner-up in the 14th stage of the Tour de France, 16 seconds behind Katusha’s Sergei Ivanov, with Hayden Roulston in third.

Russia’s home-grown satellite navigation system may not yet be fully operational, but it seems to work fine on prime minister Vladimir Putin’s dog.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin reshuffled the Russian government today in his first major action since leaving the Kremlin.

Russia's satellite navigation system advances further today as another three are put into orbit, and President Vladimir Putin already has plans for how to use it: to keep tabs on his black labrador.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support today for First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to run for president.

Russia’s parliament overwhelmingly approved Viktor Zubkov as prime minister today, and President Vladimir Putin said he was among at least five people who could hope to succeed him next year.

Russia’s lower house of parliament was today set to vote on President Vladimir Putin’s nominee for prime minister, with confirmation assured in the Kremlin-controlled chamber.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s nominee for premier has voiced presidential ambitions.

President Vladimir Putin’s choice for the prime minister’s post today said he would not rule out a run for the presidency, adding to the intrigue following his surprise nomination just months before parliamentary elections.

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin dismissed his long-serving prime minister yesterday and nominated little-known cabinet official Victor Zubkov to replace him in a surprise move that could put Zubkov in the running to replace Putin next year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed his long-serving prime minister today and nominated little-known Cabinet official Victor Zubkov to replace him in a surprise move that could put Zubkov in the running to replace Putin next year.

International experts from the United States, Sweden and other nations travelled to Tbilisi today as part of the investigation into Georgia’s claims that a Russian aircraft violated Georgian airspace and dropped or fired a missile that landed near a village.

President Vladimir Putin today accepted the resignation of Igor Ivanov as secretary of Russia’s Security Council.

A senior Russian official said strategic and tactical missiles tested today can penetrate any missile defense system, Russian news agencies reported.

President Vladimir Putin began his annual marathon news conference by praising Russia’s economic growth, but added that the government had much to do to reduce inequalities in Russians' standards of living.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to build four new nuclear reactors for energy-starved India today, cementing his country’s traditional role as India’s main nuclear benefactor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India today, hoping to use the two nations’ decades-long friendship to push for deals in civilian nuclear co-operation, military hardware and trade expansion between the booming economies.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said today he was unaware of a reported Chinese anti-satellite weapons test that has drawn a torrent of international criticism and said Beijing was against the militarization of space.

Russia’s top nuclear official said today that his country tightly controls all exports of polonium, the radioactive isotope that British authorities suspect killed former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov has denied that Russian security forces were involved in the poisoning death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London, saying that was not in the Kremlin’s interests, according to an interview.

A senior Kremlin spokesman dismissed allegations that Russia’s government was involved in the alleged poisoning of former security officer Alexander Litvinenko as “sheer nonsense.”

North Korea today boasted that it successfully tested a nuclear weapon, sparking a barrage of global condemnation and threats of harsh sanctions over an underground blast that appeared to thrust the volatile communist state into the elite club of nuclear-armed nations.

A top Russian military officer today confirmed that the device tested by North Korea was a nuclear weapon, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Russian politicians were to vote today on a motion fiercely condemning Georgia’s pro-Western leadership as an anti-Georgia campaign gathered steam after Moscow imposed sweeping sanctions on the small neighbouring state.

Russia today suspended all transport and postal links with neighbouring Georgia until further notice, the transport and communications ministries said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced Georgia’s arrest of Russian officers as “state terrorism,” but ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from the neighbouring country to continue as planned.

Russia has evacuated all but two staff members and guards from its embassy in Georgia and announced it was suspending planning for further troop withdrawals from its ex-Soviet neighbour.

Georgia today charged four Russian officers with spying and a court was to decide later whether they should continue to be held in custody as relations between the two ex-Soviet neighbours plummeted to a new low.

Nato defence ministers face a tense meeting in Portoroz, Slovenia, today with their Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, after the Western alliance angered Moscow last week by agreeing to deepen co-operation with Georgia.

President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have discussed the Lebanon crisis and tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme, the Kremlin said.

Russia’s defence minister today hailed the killing of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev as a just retribution to “our bin Laden", but said that his death did not mean an end to the fight against rebels.

Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov today reiterated Moscow’s commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, the Interfax news agency reported.

Facing a UN deadline to halt uranium enrichment by Friday, Iran’s supreme leader warned the US of a “twofold” response should it launch a military attack.