A missing Russian pilot and three rebel commanders were beaten when their U.N. helicopter landed off target in Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region earlier this week, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday.
An 80-year-old woman has died after an explosion at an Orthodox Christian church in southern Ukraine which injured at least eight other people, officials say.
A senior U.S. arms control negotiator says that despite disputes with Russia, the recently expired START nuclear arms treaty has been implemented successfully.
Lukoil has received an option for the buyback of 11.61 percent of its shares in the form of depository receipts from ConocoPhillips before September 26, 2010.
Russia will retain tax breaks in 2011 for producers developing new oil and gas deposits that require large capital outlays, though an extraction tax increase will go ahead, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.