The Moscow Times

Just three days before his return to the Kremlin as president, Vladimir Putin met behind closed doors at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow, with U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who was there to transmit President Barack Obama's renewed determination to strengthen cooperation with Russia.

Kosovo's Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj has voiced strong support for Syria's opposition, saying his government had already established diplomatic contacts with Syrians fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

The muscular firefighters in sharp uniforms chatted lightheartedly near a row of well-equipped Iveco firetrucks, ready at a moment's notice to drop the banter and race out to extinguish a blaze.

Embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad will be hoping that third time's the charm after a visit from the head of the International Chess Federation and alien-spotter Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

On every Victory Day for the last decade, the Kremlin has tried to convince Russians and the world as a whole that Russia is a major military power. Moscow drivers are repeatedly trapped for hours in traffic jams caused by the military parade rehearsals.

Outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed into law a bill ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, exactly four years after the convention came into force.

China and Russia are resisting a Western push for the UN Security Council to threaten Sudan and South Sudan with sanctions if the two countries fail to comply with demands to halt their escalating conflict.

Russia and Iran are helping Syria import fuel, which it needs for heavy vehicles including army tanks, allowing Damascus to avoid the full impact of tightening Western sanctions imposed over its violent suppression of dissent.

The annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have provided a window onto two fundamental trends driving global politics and the world economy.