Mr Putin told former US President Bill Clinton in Moscow that US police had "let themselves go" and were putting people in prison.

Ten people have been arrested in the US and one in Cyprus after an FBI inquiry.

The Russian foreign ministry has said the US allegations are baseless and a throwback to the Cold War.

The 10 people arrested in the US are accused of conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of a foreign government, a crime which carries up to five years in prison.

Speaking after White House talks, Mr Obama said the pair had "succeeded at resetting our relationship".

He said the US was backing Russia's World Trade Organisation accession.

Earlier, the two ate hamburgers and chips at an eatery close to Washington while amused bystanders looked on.

Mr Obama also announced that Moscow would allow the US to resume poultry exports to Russia after a ban of almost six months.

"Our country is more secure and the world is safer when the US and Russia get along well together," Mr Obama told reporters.

But, he added, there were some issues which the two countries did not agree on, such as the former Soviet republic of Georgia, with which Russia fought a brief war nearly two years ago.

The Security Council is set to vote on a fourth round of sanctions to tighten financial curbs on Iran, while expanding a limited arms embargo.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said they were "the most significant sanctions that Iran has ever faced".

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said that a nuclear fuel-swap deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil was an offer that would not be repeated.

An international investigation found that North Korea was responsible, an accusation the North denies.

South Korea has not spelled out what action it wants the UN to take, although it has not asked for sanctions against the North.

Tensions between the two Koreas have increased since the sinking in which 46 sailors were killed.

In a speech to an Asian security conference in Singapore, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said: "North Korea must admit its wrongdoing."

Deputy PM Bulent Arinc said Ankara was "assessing deals with Israel", once its close ally.

Nine people, mostly Turkish activists, died when Israeli troops stormed a ship trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza on Monday.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he did not view Hamas, which runs Gaza, as a terrorist organisation.

In Friday's televised speech, which analysts say will anger Israel, Mr Erdogan described Hamas as "resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land".

The activists returned to an enthusiastic welcome led by Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.

The bodies of nine people killed when Israeli commandos took control of the six aid vessels were also flown in.

Earlier, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had "no choice" but to storm the ships on Monday.

As activists accused Israeli forces of brutality, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council voted to set up an independent international inquiry into the raid.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon also demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately, calling the siege "counter-productive, unsustainable and wrong".

A senior Canadian military official said allegations against General Daniel Menard were being investigated. He gave no details.

The military said the dismissal would not affect its mission in Afghanistan.

Most of Canada's 2,800 troops in the country are based in the south, where Nato has been fighting the Taliban.

A major campaign is planned in the Kandahar area in the coming months. General Menard was in charge of Nato's Task Force Kandahar.

He expressed his gratitude to the soldiers on a visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Mr Karzai is in the US for four days of talks aimed at repairing rocky relations between Kabul and Washington.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told him the US will remain committed to Afghanistan long after troops leave.

Mr Karzai will hold talks with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.

Visiting wounded US soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Mr Karzai said: "To see those young American soldiers, some with very young babies and children, one who just lost both legs the other who lost both arms and legs, it is really painful experience, an extremely painful wound for me.

"I wish that we will have no more people losing their lives and limbs like that."

If confirmed, this would see Mrs Merkel's national coalition lose its slim majority in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.

The campaign has been overshadowed by the government's decision to contribute to a huge rescue package for Greece.

Meanwhile many cities in NRW are on the brink of bankruptcy.

If confirmed, this would see Mrs Merkel's national coalition lose its majority in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.

The campaign has been overshadowed by the government's decision to contribute to a huge rescue package for Greece.

Meanwhile many cities in NRW are on the brink of bankruptcy.

North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany's most populous state and home to 18 million people, is in the country's industrial heartland and regarded as a weathervane for national politics.