Vladimir Putin used a rare visit to Moscow by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk up the Kremlin's potential to help broker a political settlement to the crisis as he tried to show the West Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council's Iran sanctions committee on Wednesday notifying it of Tehran's recent missile test and demanded action in response to what they said was a violation.

U.S. prosecutors unveiled more charges against a billionaire Macau real estate developer and three others accused of engaging in a bribery scheme involving a former president of the United Nations General Assembly.