"It would be boring without gossip." That, it seems, may be the only explanation the world will ever get from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, about his whereabouts for the past 11 days – an absence that launched a thousand rumours of ill-health, childbirth or even a palace coup. Putin, wearing a pink tie and in apparent good health, met with the Kyrgyz leader, Almazbek Atanbayev, in a St Petersburg palace on Monday, the first time he has been seen in public since 5 March. (www.theguardian.com)