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Brahimi Meets Top U.S., Russian Officials: We Stressed Need for Speedy End to Bloodshed

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Friday expressed the urgent need to end the Syrian conflict after meeting with top U.S. and Russian officials, but reported no concrete advances towards a solution.

"We all stressed the need for a speedy end to the bloodshed and the destruction and all forms of violence in Syria," Brahimi told reporters in Geneva, following more than five hours of talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

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Russia to Allow 'Some Orphans' to be Adopted in U.S.

Russian children whose adoption has already been approved by the courts will be able to go to the United States despite a blanket ban on American adoptions, a Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.

"Those who have received a court decision will go," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP.

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Brahimi Meets Russian, U.S. Officials on Syria

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was meeting with top U.S. and Russian officials Friday on the Syria crisis although there was little hope of a breakthrough.

Brahimi, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns were meeting at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva. They made no comment as they arrived for the closed-door talks.

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Russia Plays Down Pressure on Assad

Russia urged world powers on Thursday to let Syrians decide their own future as it prepared for talks on the 22-month crisis with Washington's pointman and the international peace envoy.

A firm statement from Moscow said all talk -- particularly that coming from Washington -- on ways to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad from power was misguided because the ultimate choice rested with Syrians.

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French Actor Depardieu in Russia after Getting Citizenship

French actor Gerard Depardieu arrived in Russia on Saturday to meet with President Vladimir Putin after getting Russian citizenship to avoid paying higher taxes in France.

"Mr. Depardieu arrived in Sochi as part of a private visit. We expect him to meet Vladimir Putin tonight," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP, adding that it was possible that Depardieu, 64, would receive his new passport during the meeting.

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Report: Suleiman in Moscow this Month for Talks with Putin

President Michel Suleiman is scheduled on January 22 to visit Moscow where he will meet with his Russian counterpart and receive an award on his role in calling for dialogue and opening channels of communication between bickering parties, the Central News Agency reported.

CNA said Thursday that Suleiman's two-day visit comes following an official invitation sent by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I.

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Putin Grants France's Depardieu Russian Citizenship

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday granted fast-track citizenship to France's Gerard Depardieu after the movie star complained about his Socialist government's proposed 75 percent tax on the rich.

The decision appears to give Depardieu -- already a frequent guest of the Moscow celebrity circuit -- a chance to pay the flat 13 percent income tax levied in Russia on everyone from billionaires to the poor.

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Sharapova Withdraws; Kvitova Loses in Brisbane

Maria Sharapova withdrew from the Brisbane International with an injured right collarbone Tuesday and 2011 champion Petra Kvitova slumped out in a straight-sets loss soon after.

Combined with Daniela Hantuchova's 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over No. 5 Sara Errani and the first-round exits of No. 7 Sam Stosur and No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki, the season-opening event featuring eight of the top 10 ranked women had already lost five of its top eight seeds before the end of the second round.

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Putin Urges Unity after Year of Protests

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday used a traditional New Year's address to call for unity following a year of protests against his return to the Kremlin for a third term.

The country's "development and fate depend on our enthusiasm and labor, on our unity and responsibility," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying in the televised message aired first in Russia's Far East.

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Report: Russia Sends Landing Ships to Syria

A Russian warship carrying a marines unit has left its Black Sea port for Syria amid preparations for a possible evacuation of nationals living and working in the strife-torn country, news reports said Sunday.

The Novocherkassk landing ship is the third such craft dispatched since Friday to the Tartus port that Russia leases from its last Middle East ally, agencies cited an unnamed official in the general staff as saying.

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