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Pussy Riot band member released
Maria Alyokhina, a member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot who was serving a two-year jail term for her part in a performance critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been released from prison.
Alyokhina's release from a prison in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia was confirmed by Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of fellow band member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
Tolokonnikova, who is also imprisoned, is expected to be released later Monday, Verzilov said.
Russia charges 30 in Greenpeace protest
Russian authorities have charged all 30 people aboard a Greenpeace ship with piracy after two activists tried to scale an oil platform in a protest of Arctic drilling last month, the Russian Investigative Committee said Thursday.
The charging began Wednesday and finished Thursday. If convicted, the 28 activists and two freelance journalists could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
None of the 30, who hail from at least 18 countries, pleaded guilty, the committee said.
FULL STORYU.N. weapons inspectors to return to Syria
U.N. investigators are planning to return to Syria soon to follow up on several more allegations of chemical weapons use.
Ake Sellstrom, the head of the inspection team that visited after an August 21 attack, told CNN that the second visit could take place as early as next week.
The news will likely please Russia, who slammed a recent U.N. chemical weapons report as "one-sided" and called for inspectors to return to Syria.
FULL STORYU.S. and Russia negotiate over Syria
As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sits down with his Russian counterpart Friday for a second day of talks about a possible diplomatic solution on Syria, he faces a proverbial standoff with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Imagine two men facing one another holding guns. One says: You drop yours first, then I'll drop mine. The second answers: No, you drop yours first.
Al-Assad demanded on Thursday that the United States call off any potential strike on Syrian government forces before he gives up his large chemical weapons arsenal.
But Kerry made it clear that the threat of a U.S. military strike remains on the table, if Syria does not hand over its stockpiles.
U.N.: Chemical weapons use must be punished
The use chemical weapons is a crime against humanity and must be punished, United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon told journalists Monday in Seoul, South Korea.
Washington may be preparing to take on the role of the punisher, if reports the Syrian government used poison gas against civilians are verified.
U.N. inspectors on the ground in Syria may be close to doing that.
Snowden's lawyer: common ground with U.S.
Edward Snowden is in good health in Russia and his lawyer there is amenable to hammering out an ending that would satisfy all. This, according to his father's lawyer, Bruce Fein, who appeared on "Anderson Cooper 360" on Wednesday night.
He relayed the conversation he had with Russian lawyer Anatoli Cuchara.
"There may be a time, where it would be constructive to try and meet and see whether there can't be common ground that everyone agrees would advance the interest, the United States, Mr. Snowden, Lon, his father and the interest of Russia in trying to resolve this in a way that honors due process and the highest principles of fairness and civilization," Fein said.
Snowden is afraid he would not get a fair trial if he came back to the United States.
U.S. urges Russia to expel Snowden
Washington is urging Moscow to send Edward Snowden back to the United States instead of letting him fly to Ecuador for asylum.
"We expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged," U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said early Monday.
FULL STORYRussia, U.S. to square off over Syria
Not long after the United States said it will start arming Syrian rebels, Syria's longtime ally Russia fired back by saying the move supports those "who kill their enemies and eat their organs."
The latest dispute sets a riveting backdrop to the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland on Monday, where the Syrian civil war will likely top the agenda among eight of the world's most powerful countries.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama will meet one-on-one to discuss the war that has now killed more than 92,000 people - including thousands of children.
FULL STORYPutin: I did not steal Super Bowl ring
The Russian president is fighting back: no, he did not steal a Super Bowl ring. And no, he's not rocking the diamond-encrusted prize on his finger, either.
President Vladmir Putin's spokesman denied accusations that the president pocketed a Super Bowl ring that belonged to the New England Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft.
"I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin). And he put it on and he goes, 'I can kill someone with this ring,'" Kraft said, according to Bleacher Report. "I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out."
FULL STORYSuspects' father delays trip to U.S.
The parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects have left their home in Dagestan for another part of Russia, the suspects' mother Zubeidat Tsarnaev told CNN Friday. She said the suspects' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, is delaying his trip to the United States indefinitely.
He was to fly to the United States as soon as Friday to cooperate in the investigation into the attacks. But his wife called an ambulance for him Thursday.
She told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that her husband was delaying the trip for health reasons. She wouldn't elaborate.
Anzor Tsarnaev agreed to fly to the United States after FBI agents and Russian officials spoke with them for hours this week at the family's home.
FULL STORY38 die in Russian psychiatric hospital fire
Thirty-eight people are  dead after a fire tore through a psychiatric hospital near Moscow, Russian officials said Friday.
There were 41 people in the building and three escaped the blaze early Friday.
FULL STORY
Ship reaches space station in just 6 hours
A Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft carrying three crew members docked at 10:28 p.m. ET Friday with the International Space Station after an expedited flight of just six hours from Earth.
FULL STORY
Autopsy: Dead adoptee had 30-plus bruises
Max Shatto, a 3-year-old child adopted from Russia by a Texas couple, had more than 30 bruises on his body in various stages of healing when he was pronounced dead on January 21, according to an Ector County medical examiner's autopsy report obtained by CNN.
Last week, the grand jury in Ector County declined to indict Laura and Alan Shatto, Max's adoptive parents.
District Attorney Bobby Bland said the grand jury found no evidence to charge the Shattos.
FULL STORY
U.K. investigators: Russian tycoon was hanged
Expatriate Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky's death is "consistent with hanging" with no sign of a violent struggle, British police announced late Monday.
Berezovsky, a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin who moved to England after repeated clashes with the Russian president, was found dead Saturday in his London apartment.
FULL STORY
Body of Putin foe removed from UK home
After days of speculation, the world may learn Monday what killed former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
The body of the former tycoon was removed from his London-area house overnight, two days after it was found, Thames Valley police said Monday.
An autopsy will take place at 9 a.m. ET to determine how he died.
FULL STORY
Putin foe, exiled Russian found dead in home
He was a powerful Russian oligarch whose fallout with his government left him self-exiled in England.
He blamed Kremlin for the death of a former Russian spy who was poisoned by radioactive material.
Now, Boris Berezovsky himself is dead.
And police are searching his London-area home for possible chemical, radiological or biological evidence.
FULL STORYRussia slams Texas D.A. over boy's death
Russia's child rights ombudsman slammed Texas prosecutors for deciding not to charge the adoptive parents of a Russian boy who died suddenly in January, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday.
The Ector County district attorney's office said Monday that a grand jury declined to indict Laura and Alan Shatto, the adoptive parents of 3-year-old Max Shatto.
FULL STORYAcid attack suspects appear in court
Three men detained for the acid attack on the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet will face a judge Thursday.
The court will decide whether the three will remain in detention, go under house arrest, or be released on bail.
Among those detained is lead dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko who police say masterminded the attack on January 17.
The other two are: Yuri Zarutsky, who allegedly flung the sulphuric acid on director Sergei Filin, and Andrey Lipatov, who allegedly drove the getaway car.
If convicted, the attackers could face up to eight years in jail for willfully inflicting damage on the health of another.
FULL STORYPolice: Bolshoi dancer behind director attack
The person who ordered the acid attack that disfigured the artistic director of Russia's illustrious Bolshoi Ballet is a leading dancer with the troupe, Pavel Dmitrichenko, Russian police said Wednesday.
The director, Sergei Filin, was coming home around midnight January 17 when an masked attacker flung concentrated acid at him on a Moscow street, the state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Police detained three people in connection with the attack, and said that all of them have confessed.
FULL STORY
Suspect in ballet director's acid attack questioned
Police are questioning a suspect in connection with an acid attack that disfigured the artistic director of Russia's illustrious Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow authorities said Tuesday.
Sergei Filin was doused with acid by a masked assailant in January, an attack that caused severe burns.
Russian authorities gave little more detail on the investigation.
FULL STORY
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