A freight train collided with a passenger bus in the Russian Far East today, killing seven people and injuring 18, emergency officials said.

The fate of four contested islands in the fertile fishing waters of the Sea of Okhotsk was expected to dominate talks today between Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today began a three-day trip to China for talks expected to focus on the construction of an oil pipeline to help satisfy the energy needs of China’s surging economy.

SEARCH crews blasted through solid rock to rescue 11 of 13 coal miners who emerged covered in soot yesterday after six days trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia.

Eleven coal miners who were trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia for six days emerged alive today after rescuers had worked around the clock to blast a tunnel through solid rock.

Eleven of 13 coal miners who were trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia for six days were found alive today.

A former traffic police officer killed four people when he opened fire in front of a bar in the Russian Far East.

Nearly 20,000 acres of Siberian taiga are on fire today as a result of picnickers’ carelessness and warm, dry weather, emergency officials said.