BBC News with Jerry Smit
The Russian president has warned that a mission to Syria by the UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan may be the last chance to avoid civil war. Dmitry Medvedev was speaking after talks in Moscow with Mr Annan, who wants Russia to take a firmer
stance
against President Bashar al-Assad. Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow.
Russia had already declared its support for Kofi Annan's peace initiative. Today, Dmitry Medvedev explained why. This, President Medvedev said, was perhaps the last chance to avoid a
protracted
bloody civil war in Syria. Moscow is a long-time ally of the Syrian government, a key supplier of arms. The Russians have some influence there. Will they use that to put pressure on President Assad to end the fighting? That's something which President Medvedev did not say.
President Obama has warned North Korea that it could face further sanctions if it goes ahead with its plans to launch a rocket next month.
Speaking in Seoul, Mr Obama said it would be difficult to go ahead with a food aid package if Pyongyang carried out the launch. He also criticised China's approach to Pyongyang's actions.
"What I've said to them consistently is rewarding bad behaviour,
turning a blind eye to
deliberate
provocations
, trying to paper over these not just provocative words but extraordinarily provocative acts that violate international norms - that's not obviously working."