A Russian defector, former Russian security officer and a body guard of Boris Berezovsky Alexander Litvinenko suddenly died in London in November 2006 with symptoms of what British forensic experts described as poisoning with radioactive polonium. Earlier this week, Foreign Secretary William Hague issued instructions to purge the Litvinenko inquest of all evidence that could implicate Russia in Litvinenko’s death or suggest that British special services could have averted the tragedy.

Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday before an international TV audience of around 125 million, winning the annual competition with a barefoot performance backed by flutes and drums.

Russia will do its utmost to secure the return of Russian nationals Victor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who were convicted in the US, for serving their sentences in Russia. Lawyers for Bout and Yaroshenko insist that their sentences should be revised. Should that prove impossible, they demand that their appeals receive fair hearings.

Russian inspectors today start observation flights over U.S. territory under the Open Skies Treaty.

In Syria, militants have kidnapped the 80-year-old father of the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.

Speaking to The Voice of Russia Saturday, expert of the Moscow-based International Institute of Political and Humanitarian Studies Dr Vladimir Bruter accused the European Union of deliberately turning a blind eye to the discriminatory citizenship policy of its member nation Latvia.

Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday before an international TV audience of around 125 million, winning the annual competition with a barefoot performance backed by flutes and drums.

Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin wished singer Dina Garipova success and victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden.

Singers from 26 countries began battling it out on Saturday night for the crown of glitzy pop in the Eurovision Song Contest, returning this year to the homeland of ABBA, the Swedish band it propelled to global superstardom. One of them is Russian Dina Garipova.

On Friday, IAEA’s head Yukiya Amano visited the Kalininskaya nuclear power plant in Russia and made a report there.

The Baltic Sea Fleet in Russia’s northwest is celebrating 310 years since its foundation.

Next week, the Russian parliament’s lower house is going to consider some amendments to laws concerning adoption of Russian children by foreigners.

Cyprus Finance Ministry has removed restrictions on financial transactions of another six foreign banks. The list features a branch of the Ukrainian Privatbank.

Economic issues took centre stage Saturday when German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis at the Vatican, two days after the pontiff called unbridled capitalism ungodly.

Natural disasters have cost the global economy $2.5 trillion since 2000, that’s according to a UN report released on Wednesday. These figures are at least 50% higher than previous international estimates. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction warned economic losses from earthquakes, floods and droughts will continue to escalate, unless businesses take action to reduce their exposure to disaster risks.

A white-tailed deer crashed through the windshield of a public bus in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was filmed by a surveillance camera. (VIDEO)

In a harsh rebuttal to George Soros, the President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research Hans-Werner Sinn accused the speculator of “playing with fire” and stated that “Germany will not accept Eurobonds” in spite of the pressure from the investing community.

In an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia, Wolf Richter talks about the ECB's desperation, the money printing bonanza of the world's central banks and about a French finance minister who is barking at the wrong tree. Wolf Richter is the editor of Testosteronepit.com, entrepreneur, private equity specialist and the author of "Big Like: Cascade Into An Odyssey".

Clashes with use of firearms and grenades between representatives of the movement "Fatah" and Islamists from the group "Junud al-Sham" began on Sunday night in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon Ein ElHilweh in the south. There are reports of dead and wounded.

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed 5 al-Qaida militants Saturday in a southern Yemeni province once overrun by the group, according to security officials.

The Russian community Assembly in Estonia has adopted a statement against forced transfer in the country of Russian secondary education to the Estonian language. Delegates noted that the program leads to a poor grasp of many of the subjects, depleted vocabulary and generally low grades in Russian children.