Lawyers

• Five littoral states discuss Caspian Sea legal status, still far from solutions

  Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, which are the five Caspian littoral states convened in Ashkhabad to discuss thelegal status of the Caspian Sea, but they are far from reaching a single solution.

• Russia masses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine - witness

  Russia's army is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of weaponry including mobile rocket launchers, tanks and artillery at a makeshift base near the border with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter saw this week.

• Boston bomber volunteered as family fell apart, jurors told

  Lawyers seeking to spare convicted Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from the death penalty called witnesses on Wednesday who described his volunteer work with disabled children, his respect for his older brother, and his father's mental illness in the years before the attack.

• Nemtsov killing exposes cracks in Kremlin unity

  The killing of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov within sight of the Kremlin has exposed rarely seen tensions between different camps inside President Vladimir Putin's system of rule.

• French court approves Kazakh tycoon Ablyazov's extradition

  France's highest appeals court paved the way on Wednesday for the extradition to either Russia or Ukraine of jailed Kazakh tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank BTA.

• French court approves Kazakh tycoon Ablyazov's extradition to Russia

  A French appeals court approved on Friday the extradition from France to Russia or Ukraine of jailed Kazakh tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank BTA.

• FBI agent to testify in trial of friend of accused Boston bomber

  An agent with the FBI is due to take the witness stand on Wednesday in the trial of a friend of the accused Boston Marathon bomber.