Sports Russia Gets Its Doping Ban Reduced But Will Miss Next 2 Olympics A panel from the Court of Arbitration for Sport found that Russia was not in compliance with international anti-doping rules. It is banned from using its flag, name and anthem for two years. Merrit Kennedy
World Arms Control: When Biden Takes Office, Clock Will Be Ticking To Save New START Treaty When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office, he'll have 16 days to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to save the last arms control treaty limiting U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Lucian Kim
World Putin Tells Russia To Begin Large-Scale Vaccination For Coronavirus Vaccination will be voluntary, the Kremlin says, and will begin with health care workers and people with chronic medical conditions. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is still in clinical trials. Lucian Kim
Elections A 'Perception Hack': When Public Reaction Exceeds The Actual Hack This election season has brought a series of computer hacks and disinformation efforts. How do we distinguish between a real threat and a minor distraction? Greg Myre
Politics Trump Vs. Biden: How Russia Sees The U.S. Election A poll published in September found only 23% of Russians have a positive view of Trump and 43% have a negative one. Also, 55% of respondents said they were hearing about Biden for the very first time. Lucian Kim
National Navalny Was Poisoned, But His Life Isn't in Danger, German Hospital Says Alexei Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics, was poisoned by an unknown substance from a group of drugs that affect the nervous system, doctors say. Bill Chappell Rob Schmitz
Health What 6 of the 7 Countries With the Most COVID-19 Cases Have In Common They're up-and-coming nations. They're regional political powers. And they're especially vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic. Jason Beaubien
World Nearly 6 Years After MH17 Was Shot Down, Dutch Prosecutors Say They Will Sue Russia Russia has denied any involvement in the 2014 crash of the Malaysian jetliner that killed nearly 300 people. Investigators say it was hit by a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile. Scott Neuman
World Cited In Many Operations, Russia's GRU Is Suspected In Afghan Bounty Case Russian military intelligence, the GRU, is linked to the invasion of Ukraine and interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Now it's suspected of a bounty program to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Greg Myre
World Russia Denies Allegations It Paid Militants To Kill U.S. Troops As 'Nonsense' A bounty program on U.S. soldiers would constitute a "massive escalation" in Moscow's testy relations with Washington, says one Russia expert. A Russian lawmaker asks: "What would we get out of this?" Lucian Kim
