Helsinki  - Proposals to continue Geneva-based peace talks between Russia and Georgia were welcomed Thursday by several foreign ministers in Finland to attend a meeting of the 56-nation Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The European Union and the OSCE helped broker a ceasefire after the war in August. That included the stationing of military monitors from the OSCE.

Moscow  - Despite international protests, Moscow Mayor Yuri Lushkov has forbidden all future gay rights demonstrations as "homosexual propaganda."

"Of course all democrats in the world will criticize us, but every society has its own point of view," Lushkov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a conference on the problems of HIV and AIDS in the former Soviet Union.

Moscow will prevent "homosexual propaganda even if some provincial democrats think that that association with sexual minorities are an important indicator of democracy," said Lushkov, who blamed homosexuals for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The city has banned gay and lesbian parades in the past.

Moscow - Russia is canvassing hard for sponsors of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi despite the ongoing global financial crisis.

According to reports in the Kommersant newspaper, organizers are hopeful of securing a total income of around 2.13 billion dollars, but the figure has been described a unrealistic in some marketing quarters.

In November, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Jacques Rogge, dismissed claims that the figures were over ambitious but admitted that the Games in Sochi were "to a large degree" dependent on financial partnerships.

Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold on Thursday a nationally broadcasted question-and-answer session, a move which could be interpreted as a sign he plans to return to the presidential seat.

People all over Russia were able to put questions to the ex- president and majority of them focus on economic and social issues, local officials said.

While Putin was president, the broadcast became an annual tradition. He held six of these sessions. During his last televised session as president in October, he answered 72 questions in more than three hours.

Moscow - Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is ready to dish out 5 million dollars (3.9 million euros) to pay the wages of national team coach Guus Hiddink and his staff, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

The agency cited the head of Abramovich's football acadamy, Sergei Kapkov, as saying that Abramovich has announced the payment as the salaries weren't paid on time by the Russian football federation.

The Chelsea owner Abramovich is to transfer the money to the Russian football federation to guarantee the salaries. The Dutchman Hiddink, who led Russia into the Euro

New Delhi, Dec 3 : India and Russia have taken a significant step to boost Defence Cooperation at their first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Monitoring Committee (HLMC).

The two-day meeting, co-chaired by the Defence Secretary Vijay Singh and Mikhail Dmitriev, Director, FSMTC from the Russian side, ended here today.

Both sides discussed issues related to ongoing projects such as Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, Multi-role Transport Aircraft, T-90 tanks, AWACS, SU-30MKI upgrade, aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and Medium Lift Helicopters.