Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to give up power. UNITED NATIONS — Western and Arab countries responded with outrage Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security...

India has decided to buy 126 fighter jets from France, taken delivery of a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia and prepared for its first aircraft carrier in recent weeks as it modernizes its military to match China's. NEW DELHI — India has decided to buy 126 fighter jets from France, taken delivery of a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia and prepared for its first aircraft carrier in recent weeks as it modernizes its military to match China's. ...

Top aluminum producer RusAl said Monday that it expects more companies to cut aluminum output this year, with China accounting for about a third of global cuts, but still forecast that global output would top demand. HONG KONG — Top aluminum producer RusAl said Monday that it expects more companies to cut aluminum output this year, with...

... powers. But its decline is not a linear, irreversible process. There can be no doubt that the West's military mastery and economic edge have been severely diminished recently. In 2000, the United States' gross domestic product was eight times larger than China's. Today it is only twice as large. Worse, appalling income inequalities, a squeezed middle class and evidence of widespread ethical lapses and impunity are fueling a dangerous disenchantment with democracy and a growing loss of trust in a system...

Internet company Mail.ru has launched its answer to U.S. microblogging site Twitter, seeking to expand its business into instant social messaging and emulate the success of China's Weibo. LONDON — Internet company Mail.ru has launched its answer to U.S. microblogging site Twitter, seeking to expand its business into instant social messaging and emulate the success of China's Weibo. London-listed Mail.ru said the...

... Neschastny Sluchai: pop rock. Shestnadtsat Tonn. 9 p.m. Richie’s Blues Band. Radio City Bar. 9 p.m. Salt Peanutz: funk, soul. Kitaisky Lyotchik Dzhao Da. 9 p.m. Stary Trety: pop, rock. FM Club. 8 p.m. The Decomposers: rock ballads. CD release party. China Town Cafe. 9 p.m. Vtoroye Dykhaniye: blues, rock, psychedelic. Roadhouse. 9 p.m. Friday, February 10th Amy Banks: jazz vocals. Soyuz Kompozitorov. 8:30 p.m. Andrei Kozlovsky: blues. ArteFAQ. 9 p.m. Anton Vosmoi: semi-acoustic. Kitaisky Lyotchik...

... Kasyanova and Django Band: retro jazz, folk jazz, swing, blues. Roadhouse. 9 p.m. Rocking Time Party with reggae band The Stereodrop. FAQ Cafe. 8 p.m. Sergei Manukyan: jazz vocals, keyboards. Cool Train. 9 p.m. Zero People: minimalist beat piano rock. China Town Cafe. 9 p.m. Friday, February 3rd Ataman i Ko. : rock. Schwein. 7:30 p.m. MT Pick Boris Grebenshchikov and Akvarium: rock. B2. 9 p.m. BubaMara Brass Band: Balkan dance music. FAQ Cafe. 10 p.m. Crazy Dance Sessions. FAQ Cafe. 11:59 p.m. Crematorium:...

... Georgia's two breakaway republics, which started the whole Pacific island race for favor. But Nauru has made a name for itself to recognize and unrecognize states for profit. After a formal 22-year relationship with Taiwan, Nauru accepted $130 million from China to unrecognize Taiwan's independence. A couple years later, Nauru re-recognized Taiwan in exchange for payment of a $13.5 million debt. The neighboring archipelago nation of Vanuatu, which also flip-flopped between Taiwan and China, has set itself...

... foundered, developments in Moscow were what started velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989. A visit by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to Beijing that same year inspired pro-democracy rallies on Tiananmen Square, which became the starting point of China's economic miracle. Today's Russia remains a nuclear superpower. Thanks to high oil prices of the past decade, it is now richer than at any time since the 1917 Bolshevik takeover. But under Putin's kleptocracy, Russia has become all but irrelevant...

... has warned that it would not allow foreign intervention in Syria after accusing the United States and other NATO countries of violating the mandate of a March 2011 Security Council resolution on Libya and using it to oust Moammar Gadhafi. Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution on Syria in October. China is expected to follow Russia’s lead again, but Western envoys say they have enough support in the 15-nation council to pass the resolution unless it is vetoed. Russia may feel...

... Security Council. Western powers, backed by the Arab League, pressed last week for the adoption of a Security Council resolution that demanded Syrian President Bashar Assad step down. A watered-down version of this resolution was vetoed by Russia and China— both contending that the Security Council must not abandon neutrality by siding with one party to a conflict — that is, the Syrian rebels. Since then, Western politicians and human rights organizations have been painting Moscow and...

... Switzerland to Venezuela. It is the biggest overhaul since President Barack Obama took office. Officers working to promote U.S. exports in Algeria, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Libya, Senegal, Switzerland and Venezuela also will be moved to such markets as China, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, India and South Africa, according to the Commerce Department. "Our goal is to ensure that U.S. companies have the support they need in markets with the greatest opportunity for U.S. exports, and where demand for our...

... new focus. Naturally, many conservative Americans were delighted by the imminent failure of what they saw as Europe's tax-and-spend model, with its addiction to a costly and inefficient welfare state. They were not the only critics. The chairman of China Investment Corporation, Jin Liquin, commented skeptically on a proposed Chinese bailout of Europe, which he called "a worn-out welfare society" with "outdated" welfare laws that induce dependence and sloth. Criticism of large...

... much as anticipated should economies continue to slow. A widening debt crisis in the 17-nation euro region will mean a 0.4 percent contraction there this year, from a 1.5 percent expansion in 2011, according to the median of 29 economist estimates. China, the world's biggest car market, reported fourth-quarter growth of 8.9 percent on Jan. 17, the slowest pace in 10 quarters. The nation's auto sales rose 2.5 percent last year and will probably gain 8 percent this year, compared with 32 percent in...

... Washington is orchestrating — or is even capable of orchestrating — an Orange-like Revolution in Russia is equally absurd. Why, then, is the Kremlin chasing imaginary American ghosts? First, there is no other country that can fill this spot. China is out of the question because inflating tensions with its neighbor is too dangerous. On the contrary, as the recent UN Security Council veto on Syria showed, China can be a valuable Russian ally to help defy the United States. Islamic radicalism...

... Eurasia which crosses Russian waters from the Kara Gate to the Bering Strait and trims some 7,400 kilometers off southern routes. Danish shipping group Nordic Bulk Carriers said it saved a third of the cost and nearly half the time sending goods to China by sailing north of Russia instead of via the Suez Canal. "It's a very promising region and an interesting shipping lane that almost halves the distance between Europe and the Far East," Aliyev said. Shipyard's Tough Times In the White...

... to Alexander Savelyov, the head of the Federal Fisheries Agency public relations department, Interfax reported Monday. Russian fishermen caught more than 520,000 tons of salmon, "just under the record set in 2009 of 530,000 tons," he said. China bought more than 60 percent of Russia's salmon exports, Japan purchased 23 percent and Korea 12 percent. Frozen fish accounted for 97.5 percent of exports, while the remainder of exports were chilled. Imports of chilled and frozen salmon and trout...

... Life News that Golyov was flying as a passenger on the overnight flight, not as one of the plane's pilots. An investigator said the doctor's attempts to save Golyov's life took place in the cockpit. The co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing in China to get medical assistance for Golyov, but the pilot died before the plane made its descent, the report said. The plane continued to its original destination, landing Friday morning. No one on board the flight was injured. (MT)

... News that Golyev was flying as a passenger on the overnight flight, not as one of the plane's pilots. An investigator said the doctor's attempts to save Golyev's life took place in the pilot's cabin. The co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing in China to get medical assistance for Golyev, but the afflicted pilot died before the plane made its descent, the Life News report said. The plane then continued to its original destination, landing Friday morning. No one on board the flight was injured...

... thievery, overt looting. Billions [of rubles], factories, [entire] sectors were stolen," he said in a wide-ranging interview with newspaper Trud. "Today we have once again returned to 'normal,' 'civilized' corruption, which, alas, also exists in China (there, it's true, they shoot you for it), and in Italy, and in America. It's more inherent to us than it is to those countries, but we, I repeat, are crawling out of frightening, unrestrained thievery. You can't get rid of this vice in a single...