Moscow - Russian police in Siberia stormed a bank and killed an armed man who had taken five hostages there Friday, a police spokesman said.

"The operation was successful. The hostages are safe and sound. The criminal is dead," the Interfax news agency quoted a police spokesman from the town of Leninsk-Kuznetski as saying.

Moscow  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that the government's anti-crisis policies were not beyond criticism, welcoming policy debate while warning against social unrest in a meeting with lawmakers.

The open attitude comes in marked contrast to his predecessor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's uncompromising rule and to the Kremlin's swift moves to quell protest against the governments anti- crisis measures in recent months.

Moscow - The principal suspect in the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko, is likely to run for mayor of Sochi, the host city of 2014 Winter Olympics, an ultra-nationalist party said Friday.

Lugovoi, who is wanted in Britain for Litvinenko's poisoning by radiation in London, is the party's "leading candidate" to the post, senior party member Igor Lebedev told news agency Ria-Novosti.

The party still had two weeks to register their candidate for the April 26 municipal elections.

London, Mar. 13: He may have been affected by the global meltdown, but billionaire owner of the Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich, has decided to fork out an astonishing 60 million pounds to buy a Caribbean estate.

Abramovich is estimated to have lost two thirds of his 15 billion pound fortune, but has still “fallen in love” with the two-acre plot on St Barts.

The idyllic spot boasts a deep-water mooring with enough space for his three super yachts.

Moscow  - Several opposition activist and three reporters were arrested during anti-Kremlin demonstrations in Moscow Thursday, radio Ekho Moskvye reported.

Organizers announced their gathering at the central Tverskaya metro station, but the main protest were held on a stretch of Moscow's ring road as activists tried to avoid police crackdowns on the unsanctioned demonstrations.

Washington  - The crew of the International Space Station prepared for a possible evacuation on Thursday after ground controllers determined that a piece of space junk was within range for a possible collision.

The crew had entered a Soyuz evacuation capsule and closed the hatches in case they were required to quickly undock from the station.

A piece of a satellite had entered an area that requires astronauts to take precautions, but the information came too late for ISS to attempt to avoid the debris.