Eurasia

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Supreme Court ordered on Wednesday that Czar Nicholas II be recognized as a victim of Soviet repression, a symbolic victory for monarchists who said it would help draw a line under Russia’s blood-stained past.

NABAKHTEVI, Georgia (Reuters) – EU monitors entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia for the first time Wednesday in what they said was a smooth start to their peacekeeping operation.

ODZISI, Georgia (Reuters) – Riding in a rickety truck laden with furniture, Zina Zakarashvili gave European Union ceasefire monitors an early glimpse on Wednesday of the human face of the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is considering blasting a railway line through the Caucasus mountains to link up with South Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia over which Moscow and Tbilisi fought a war in August.

FRANKFURT/MOSCOW (Reuters) – European and Russian policymakers urged U.S. politicians to pass a new version of a $700 billion bank rescue package on Wednesday as a new Senate vote on the bailout loomed.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan has appointed a new chief for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, months after U.S. officials had questioned the reliability of the military’s premier spy agency in the war against terrorism.

KHAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani tribesmen backed by army helicopter gunships battled Islamist militants in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing several of the militants, a tribal elder said.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Rival Somali pirates arguing over what to do with a hijacked Ukrainian ship and its cargo of 33 tanks engaged in a shootout on board, killing three of their number, a maritime group said on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- 10 members of the notorious Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) were arrested in France and Switzerland last week on charges of money laundering, judicial sources said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped a Polish engineer in Pakistan on Sunday after shooting dead his Pakistani driver, body guard and translator, a senior police official said.