Controversial leader refuses to apologise to official

Grenadier Guard becomes only the eleventh soldier awarded the prestigious medal since the Second World War

One thing wealthy Russians will have learned this weekend is that when a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That is now certainly the case for those who have invested heavily in Cyprus, where the 10,000-strong Russian community is thought to have as much as €35bn in deposit accounts.

Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood has objected to a UN declaration on violence against women on the grounds that it would lead to the “disintegration of society” – a move that threatens to derail efforts by the international community to reach an agreement.

Procrastination, attempts to keep evidence secret and shield the identity of witnesses has led to yet another long delay before the inquiry into Alexander Litvinenko's death can start.

It may not be possible to embalm the remains of Hugo Chavez as planned because it could be too late to start the process, the government has admitted.

When Scott Fitzgerald said there were no second acts in American lives, he provided a thousand writers with the opportunity to refute that assertion. But had he said it about British lives, it would still be untrue — as the example of Philip Kerr attests.

Andrei Lugovoy said he had 'lost all faith in the opportunity of an unbiased investigation in Britain'

The navy has reportedly lost three of its carefully trained “killer” dolphins. The defence ministry has denied the reports and refused to confirm that its navy uses dolphins, but the loss has been widely reported in the country, and former naval officers said dolphins often went missing during exercises to look for mates.

There was mayhem in a tiny courtroom in Moscow today after one of the most controversial trials in recent Russian history – that of the deceased whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky – failed to start.

I've just got back from a trip to a bitterly cold Moscow where I watched my team, Newcastle, grind out a 0-0 draw with those super-heavyweights of European football, Anzhi Makhachkala, in the Europa League.

Like other former Soviet composers freed from compulsory atheism, Alexander Raskatov employs a great many liturgical and religious texts in his music.

Non-league football is not generally considered a hotbed of artistic creativity. But one East Sussex club is building a cult following with matchday posters that draw on iconic images from Soviet propaganda and graffiti to Sex Pistols albums and Hitchcock films. 

Hatem Ben Arfa passed up a golden opportunity to celebrate his 26th birthday in style as Newcastle claimed a hard-fought Europa League draw in Moscow.