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Armed clashes erupted in at least three Syrian cities on Friday amid reports of a deadly mortar attack on a major Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, an event that threatened to draw Syria’s displaced Palestinian population into its civil war... Western nations, led by the United States, have accused Russia of helping to sabotage Mr. Annan’s diplomacy and have questioned the need for a United Nations monitoring presence in Syria if there is no viable peace plan to monitor.

A Russian opera singer who pulled out of the Bayreuth Wagner Festival after an image of a tattoo was shown on television says it was not a swastika.

The Americans lived up to their considerable hype and then some Tuesday night, routing silver medalist Russia and everybody else on their way to their first Olympic title in women's gymnastics since 1996. Their score of 183.596 was a whopping five points ahead of Russia and made their final event, floor exercise, more like a coronation. Romania won the bronze.

U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney held up Poland's transition from Communism to democracy as an example for the rest of the world while saying on Tuesday that Russia had faltered on the path to freedom.

A Russian official suggests Moscow could offer asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad, if he requests it. Russian officials, who have strenuously resisted U.S.-led efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, are beginning to question whether the beleaguered leader can hang on, but say they have little influence over him as rebels take the fight to his country's biggest cities.

Villagers in Russia's south Urals have stumbled upon a gruesome discovery — four barrels containing 248 human fetuses left in a forest... Police suspects that one of the four local hospitals is responsible for dumping the barrels.

A Russian Soyuz craft launched into the morning skies over Kazakhstan on Sunday, carrying three astronauts on their way to the International Space Station, where they will quickly start preparing for a frenzy of incoming traffic....

Activists helping the flood-ravaged city of Krymsk represent a jarring contrast to the secretive approach to disaster response that long prevailed during the Soviet period.

On Monday, Russia said it would not sign new weapons contracts with Syria until the situation there calms down.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least 99 people were killed in floods and landslides in southern Russia after two months' average rainfall fell in a few hours overnight, police and emergency officials said on Saturday.