A new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control treaty went into effect Saturday, securing a key foreign policy goal of President Barack Obama and raising hopes among officials on both sides that it will provide the impetus for Moscow and Washington to negotiate further reductions.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday signed the ratification of a nuclear arms cut pact with the United States, the centerpiece of President Obama's efforts to reset ties with Moscow.
A lawyer for jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Friday appealed his sentence of six more years in prison, a punishment seen as payback for challenging Vladimir Putin's power and which was widely condemned in the West.
Russia's lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval Friday to a U.S.-Russian arms treaty, but decided to delay the final vote until next month.
The Senate on Wednesday ratified a new arms control treaty with Russia in a major foreign policy win for President Obama.
North Korea's foreign minister held rare talks in Russia on Monday amid a flurry of diplomatic attempts to ease tensions after Pyongyang's deadly attack on a South Korean island last month.
International arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called "Merchant of Death," was extradited Tuesday by Thailand to the United States to stand trial on an indictment unsealed in New York accusing him of conspiracy to finance a fleet of aircraft to arm bloody conflicts and support rogue regimes worldwide.
Russia's president visited an island in the Pacific Ocean claimed by both Russia and Japan on Monday, triggering immediate protests from Tokyo, which already is involved in a heated dispute with China over islands to the south.
China is expanding its military reach by sending, for the first time, a marine unit of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to train with another country in an upcoming exercise with Thailand's armed forces.
