Norway has begun using buses to move asylum seekers across its Arctic border with Russia. despite criticism from the UN and temperatures approaching 30 degrees below zero. A bus with 13 people on board crossed the Russian border.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. is focusing on starting the talks on Jan. 25. However, he said it can't send out invitations until the key countries agree on an opposition list. He hinted the talks could be delayed.
The internal document leaks suggested that Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) covered up the Russian athletes doping scandal in 2009, six years before it banned the country from international competition. The IAAF denied the covering up.
Ukrainian oil and gas company, Ukrnafta, filed a lawsuit against Russia at the Permanent Court of Arbitration to defend its investment. The company appointed US law firm as its representatives in the case.
New law restricting foreign ownership on media outlets to only 20% has taken effect on the beginning of this year. The 20-percent-share rule compelled companies to sell their assets and leave the country.
US Department of Justice arrested Russian nationals abroad, but it claims that these acts do not violate the 1999 Mutual Legal Assistance treaty between the two nations.
Ukraine responds to embargo by banning Russian food products. The ongoing trade war happening between Russia and the Ukraine has just taken things on a more serious level.
Litigation could be the next step for Russia and Ukraine soon if the two countries do not reach settlement on the multi-billion debt that Ukraine owes to Russia. The rift between two countries is expected to bring larger effects to both economies, as allegations on the Russia's annexation of Crimea and the issue of them backing on the separatist uprising in the Eastern Ukaraine could also be included in the court proceedings.
EU extends sanctions for Russia. US to help EU maintain peace in Ukraine. The European Union extended its economic sanctions on Russia for another six months.
Iran violated a U.N. Security Council resolution in October by test-firing a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, a team of sanctions monitors said, leading to calls in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday for more sanctions on Tehran.
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing Russia's Constitutional Court to decide whether or not to implement rulings of international human rights courts.
Russia on Sunday warned Turkey to stop staging what it called provocations against its forces in or near Syria after one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean to avoid a collision.
Islamic State militants have made more than $500 million trading oil with significant volumes sold to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and some finding its way to Turkey, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Thursday.
Russia has increased checks on food and agriculture imports from Turkey, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday, in the first public move to curb trade in a dispute with Ankara for downing a Russian fighter jet.
An extradition treaty signed by Russia and North Korea could be used to send back defectors from the North and put them at risk of serious harm in their home country, including torture, the U.N. human rights investigator on North Korea said on Thursday.
Russia sent an advanced missile system to Syria on Wednesday to protect its jets operating there and pledged its air force would keep flying missions near Turkish air space, sounding a defiant note after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet.
Since last month, U.S. warplanes have struck Islamic State's oil infrastructure in Syria in a stepped-up campaign of economic warfare that the United States estimates has cut the group's black-market earnings from oil by about a third.
Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday after repeated warnings over air space violations, but Moscow said it could prove the jet had not left Syrian air space.
At least 43 people were killed and more than 240 wounded on Thursday in two suicide bomb blasts claimed by Islamic State in a crowded residential district in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.
President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia needed to conduct its own investigation into allegations its athletes had systematically taken performance-enhancing substances and that someone needed to take personal responsibility for the problem.
Russia wants the Syrian government and opposition to agree on launching a constitutional reform process of up to 18 months, followed by early presidential elections, a draft document obtained by Reuters showed on Tuesday.
