Reuters - China said on Thursday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin left Beijing, that Beijing and Moscow are in accord on Iran's nuclear standoff with the West.

Reuters - Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday firmly rejected a draft U.N. Security Council statement aimed at pressuring Iran to stop enriching uranium, despite a new offer of amendments by Western powers.

AP - Russian prosecutors said Wednesday they have charged three former employees of the shattered Yukos oil company, one of them a Spanish passport-holder, with money laundering and theft.

Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she was confident an international agreement would be reached on way to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium.

AP - U.N. Security Council members sought to break a deadlock over Iran's suspect nuclear program Wednesday after Britain and France could not get Russia and China to agree on how to pressure Tehran to stop enriching uranium, diplomats said.

Reuters - The United States still believes the U.N. Security Council can reach agreement in coming days on a statement calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities, a senior envoy said on Wednesday.

AP - Russia and China pledged Wednesday to cooperate more closely in producing oil and gas, and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to go forward with a much-anticipated pipeline to carry Siberian oil to fuel China's booming economy.

Russia says a major oil pipeline could be built through China, casting doubt on an alternative route to Japan.

AP - Nashville goaltender Tomas Vokoun wasn't great in the shootout, just good enough.

AP - Presidents Hu Jintao of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia pledged Wednesday to cooperate more closely in producing oil and gas, and Putin said he expects a closely watched pipeline to be built to carry Siberian oil to fuel China's booming economy.

AP - Russia wants to show that it can be a "credible, stable and reliable" energy partner for the European Union and is ready to start negotiations that could lead to a formal pact, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday.

Danielle George - AHN Staff Reporter Beijing, China (AHN) - Russia and China plan to route large quantities of gas from fields in Siberia to China. Officials say the pipelines may begin supply within five years. The agreement, according to BBC news, came as part of a raft of economic deals...

AP - The human death toll from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu reached 103 after five people died from the disease in Azerbaijan, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

Reuters - North Korea said it was prepared to launch a pre-emptive military strike and it would not bow to U.S. pressure to give up its nuclear weapons, its official media said in separate reports on Tuesday.

The Chinese and Russian presidents pledge closer economic ties during talks in Beijing.

Reuters - China and Russia have common ideas on a resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

AFP - Top officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States wrapped up more than four hours of talks on the Iranian nuclear crisis here but failed to agree on a clear strategy to coax Tehran into foregoing nuclear arms.

AP - Britain has suggested imposing U.N. sanctions on Iran unless it allays suspicions about its nuclear program, but Russia and China remained at odds with Europe and the United States Monday night on the best way to confront Tehran.