Russia has dropped piracy charges against jailed Greenpeace activists - including two New Zealanders - and charged them with hooliganism instead.

A female suicide bomber has blown herself up on a city bus in southern Russia, killing six people and injuring about 30, officials said.

Eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates have written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin calling for piracy charges against environmental activists.

One of the New Zealand Greenpeace activists being detained in Russia has been refused bail.

Greenpeace said about 200 people turned out at a protest in Wellington in support of activists being held in Russia.

Charges of piracy have been laid against 30 Greenpeace activists arrested by Russian authorities, including two New Zealanders.

More than 20 anti-oiling campaigners, including New Zealanders Jonathon Beauchamp and David John Haussmann, will spend the next two months in a Russian jail.

The UN Security Council, long paralysed by deep divisions over how to deal with the Syrian conflict, is about two days away from agreeing on a resolution to require Damascus to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles.

Protesters rallying for the release of 30 Greenpeace activists - including two Kiwis - are holding fort outside New Zealand's Russian Embassy today.

International leaders are failing in their fight against global warming, one of the United Nations' top climate officials has said.

A prominent member of Russia's parliament has exploited the deadly shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington to ridicule the United States.

A look at how the past days' parallel tracks - pushing for approval of a military attack while pausing to give diplomacy a chance - unfolded.

America's threat of military action against Syria's regime receded into the distance yesterday as Washington and its allies decided to test a Russian proposal.

Battling stiff resistance in Congress, US President Barack Obama has conceded he might lose his fight for congressional support of a military strike against Syria.

Before leaving for home after the Group of 20 summit, President Barack Obama sat down with Russian civil society activists to assure them that he would keep pressing Moscow to respect human rights.

They're supposed to be talking about growth and money, but the threat of war in Syria is creeping into nearly every conversation as the leaders of the world's 20 top economies huddle in Russia this week.

The Russian village of Oymyakon is generally known as the world's coldest permanently inhabited place.

The Russian village of Oymyakon is generally known as the world's coldest permanently inhabited place. Photos by Amos Chapple.

A number of celebrities have taken to Twitter to show their support Wentworth Miller after he revealed he is gay.

Last week, Alexei Navalny, the recently convicted Russian opposition blogger, lawyer and candidate for the post of mayor of Moscow, posted a provocative item on his site.

One of the architects of Russia's anti-gay laws has launched an attack on homosexuality and accused broadcaster Stephen Fry of being "sick" because of his attempt to commit suicide.

Unmarried Kiwis are no longer able to adopt Russian children because New Zealand has legalised gay marriage.

Gay competitors in next year's Winter Olympics risk arrest by Russian police if they engage in "propaganda" for their homosexuality, Russia's Sports Minister has confirmed.