An explosion at a supermarket in Russia's second largest city was a terrorist attack, President Vladimir Putin has said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called his US counterpart Donald Trump to thank him for a CIA tip-off that helped thwart a series of bombings in St Petersburg.

Peter the Great patterned the city after Amsterdam, and even though St Petersburg is newer than New York by almost 100 years, in some places it feels a thousand years old — a few buildings seem to be a cross between Roman ruins and German palaces. The building walls, usually between three and four feet thick, host basement cafés and restaurants where you can’t get a mobile phone signal. The walls are moist, and smell like rivers, because the city was built on marshland.

Pope John Paul II believes “the time is ripe” to return a revered icon to Russia, hoping to give a major push to improving relations between Catholics and Russian Orthodox Christians, his spokesman said today.

The world was almost united today as people around the globe reflected on last year’s terror attacks against the United States.