Moscow  - Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has assured the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that his government remains fully committed to financing the
2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi despite the global economic crisis.

Putin said Saturday at a meeting with the Games' IOC coordinator Jean-Claude Killy in Sochi that the financing of the Games was secured in the State budget.

The Director of space agency Roskosmos' Manned Flight Programmes, Alexei Krasnov announced on Friday that for the sake of future manned missions to the Moon and Mars, Russia is thinking over to develop an orbital station to serve as an assembly platform and springboard.

He said, "We will soon propose to our government a project to construct a low-orbit complex, which could serve as a foundation for the implementation of the Lunar programme and later on - the Mars programme."

Rybinsk, Russia - Pirjo Muranen of Finland ended a long winning drought while Italy's Renato Pasini denied hosts Russia with sprint victories in the cross-country skiing World Cup on Saturday.

Muranen won the women's freestyle race from Italians Arianna Follis and Magda Genuin to capture her fifth career win, but the first in more than six years since December 2002. Muranen was a sprint world champion under her maiden name Manninen in 2001.

Pasini captured his second career win in the men's race when he outlasted the Russian challenge of Alexey Petukhov and Anton Gafarov. He had also claimed his first win in Rybinsk, in January 2007.

Moscow - Thousands of people in far-eastern Russia on Saturday began what are expected to be nationwide protests against the Kremlin's economic policies.

About 5,000 people in Vladivostock and Khabarovsk took to the streets, Echo Moskvy radio reported.

In the east, demonstrators protested against higher import tariffs on foreign cars that are meant to protect Russia's ailing domestic auto industry. Millions of drivers in the Asian part of Russia prefer used cars made in Japan and South Korea.

Moscow - In the first visit of a Cuban leader to Moscow since the fall of the former Soviet Union, President Raul Castro and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed several agreements Friday to boost their countries' relations.

The focus was on strategic cooperation in economic areas, the Russian presidential office said, according to a report by the Interfax agency.

Raul, the brother of Cuban communist revolutionary leader, is staying in Moscow through February 4 and is expected to meet Premier Vladimir Putin on Monday.

London, Jan. 30 : Former British Prime Minister and now Middle East envoy for the Quartet group of the US, UN, EU and Russia, Tony Blair, has revealed that he still agonizes over his decision to go to war against Iraq.

When he was asked whether he felt vindicated by his decision, Blair said: "I don''t know. Nobody knows. But of course I reflect on it, and am troubled by it, and feel a great sense of responsibility for it".