Just before he left for his visit to Moscow last week, U.S. President Barack Obama stirred controversy in the Russian press by describing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a man with one foot in the past. For many that seemed

Russian modern art has done very well abroad in recent years, making millions at the world's top auction houses. But despite this international success, Russians tend to know little about their own contemporary art scene. This is especially true outside

In 1994, a little-known collective farm manager ran for the Belarusian presidency. His reactionary Soviet-style platform and flamboyant populism caused the Russian government at the time to dismiss him as a Zhirinovsky-like joker. But Alexander Lukashenko won, and despite Soviet-style

Previous economic crises in Russia scared away some Western pharmaceutical firms, but at least one is seeing opportunities in the current downturn. Sixteen years after being approached by a delegation from St Petersburg that included a young Vladimir Putin, the

Vasily Aksyonov, writer, died on June 6 at the age of 76. Best known for his "Moskovskaya Saga" (published in English as "Generations of Winter"), an epic novel charting the lives of several generations of a single Moscow family through

I CAN understand the reaction of our employees to the news that we propose closing our bottling plant at Kilmarnock, and the Port Dundas distillery.

DON'T you hate the way people bang on and on sanctimoniously about outdoor pursuits and how great the countryside is for developing life skills and forging connections wit

NO SURGICAL procedure is 100 per cent safe, but liposuction has been used for many years now and there is a strong record of safety.

EVERY so often, I need my fix of Glasgow. It's a great city, and I like its people better than Edinburgh's for all the usual reasons: they're friendly, direct, and

ON WEDNESDAY evening, the Prince of Wales mounted a podium in his London home at St, James's Palace to deliver this year's BBC Dimbleby Lecture.

IT IS perhaps the clearest example of money for nothing. Jim Hood, the Scots Labour MP, has admitted pocketing £625 a month - in addition to his MP's salary of £64,766 - a

SARAH Brown has twice declined to eat veal during her visit to Italy for the G8 summit, it emerged yesterday.

GORDON Brown met Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi for the first time yesterday, but sidestepped questions about the Lockerbie bomber.

SCOTTISH prison governors have been handed £10,000 bonuses to prevent them being lured by higher salaries south of the Border.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday urged North Korea to grant amnesty to two American reporters sentenced to 12 years of hard labor last month for illegally entering North Korea. Clinton said the reporters have expressed "great remorse

Gov. Pat Quinn is reportedly shelving his income tax hike proposal until this fall in order to help settle the current state budget deadlock.

Former GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole remained hospitalizedfollowing leg surgery performed after he initially sought medicaltreatment for heart problems.

President Barack Obama gave Pope Benedict XVI a personal letter from ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy Friday. White House national security aide Denis McDonough said Obama andBenedict discussed Kennedy at the end of a half-hour one-on-one meetingat the Vatican.

Chicago's fiscal chief says City Hall is on pace to be $300 million in the hole by the end of the year.