For years, President Vladimir Putin promised everybody that he would retire from politics when his second term lapsed in 2008. With his usual consistency, he changed his tune last June, saying he would maintain a major political role. In December, he ""agreed"" to serve as prime minister under a future President Dmitry Medvedev.

Last week, Senator Alexander Torshin, former head of the parliamentary commission that investigated the Beslan school attack, shared some news about the investigation with Ekho Moskvy radio.

Russia's first social networking web site for English speakers now has a rival.

A recipe from Julien Piguet, chef de cuisine at the Park Restaurant in the Ararat Park Hyatt hotel.

No one could describe Le Mark as central, but the southwest Moscow location certainly does have its fans. In fact, many consider the southwest to be quite a prestigious area in which to live, given the proximity of Moscow State University and that the area is generally spacious and relatively pollution-free.

A Sri Lankan minister was killed by a roadside bomb planted by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels north of the capital Tuesday, a senior hospital official said, the second lawmaker killed in a week as a protracted civil war escalates.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday rejected bilateral talks with President Mwai Kibaki, dimming hopes for a breakthrough to end turmoil that has led to almost 500 deaths.

U.S. and Iraqi forces began a series of operations on Tuesday targeting al-Qaida in Iraq after an upsurge in suicide bombings that U.S. commanders say are an attempt by the militant group to reignite sectarian violence.

Slovenia, which currently heads the EU's rotating presidency, favors a quick signing of an EU pre-entry deal with Serbia, possibly in the next few weeks, its foreign minister said Tuesday. But the EU commissioner in charge of the bloc's expansion, Olli Rehn, was cautious, saying that the signing of a deal -- called a Stabilization and Association Agreement -- depends on whether Serbia would fully cooperate with the UN war crimes court.

A 15-year-old Boy Scout intervened to stop a man from stabbing Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom with a kitchen knife on Tuesday, a move the leader's spokesman said saved him from assassination.

Severstal's SeverCorr BuyoutGazprom's Prices RiseGazprom, Nigeria to PartnerUrals Energy Sells SharesUES Starts Generator AgainAndritz's $191M OrderUkraine to Review NaftogazKazakhstan's Economy Up

Scottish & Newcastle, which is fighting to head off a takeover bid from Carlsberg and Heineken, said Tuesday that it could save nearly $200 million per year if it gained full control over Baltic Beverages Holding, its 50-50 joint venture with Carlsberg.

Costs for a proposed Baltic Sea pipeline to deliver gas from Russia to Germany will exceed the initial estimate of $7.3 billion, a spokesman for the project said Monday.