Eurasia

PRAGUE (Reuters) – The United States and the Czech Republic signed an agreement on Tuesday to build part of a U.S. missile defense shield in the central European state despite opposition from its former Cold War master Russia. The U.S. and Czech foreign ministers toasted with champagne after signing the …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday it would use military means if the United States deployed a missile defense shield close to Russia’s borders. “If the real deployment of an American strategic missile defense shield begins close to our borders, then we will be forced to react not with …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A U.S. deal with the Czech Republic on missile defense complicates European security and cancels out consultations with Moscow on the missile shield, media quoted a Russian foreign ministry source as saying.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Moscow-backed separatists in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region detained four Georgian soldiers on Monday, raising tension a day before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Tbilisi. South Ossetia, and Georgia’s second breakaway region of Abkhazia, are a regular source of friction between the pro-Western government in …

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday Russian behavior towards Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia had exacerbated tensions and she urged both sides to avoid provocative actions. “Frankly, some of the things that Russia did over the last couple of months added to tensions …

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Pakistan is not behind the suicide car-bombing that ripped through the Indian embassy in Kabul, killing 41 people and wounding 139, the country’s prime minister said on Tuesday. Afghan authorities had suggested that Monday’s attack was coordinated with foreign agents in the region, a likely reference …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A “new war” could break out in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia if Tbilisi uses military force to resolve the conflict, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

ASTANA (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Saturday to refrain from “stoking tensions” in Georgia’s breakaway regions.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Taliban militants released two Pakistani journalists on Saturday more than 36-hours after they were abducted in a tribal region near the Afghan border. “When it was proven that they’re journalists and not spies, we freed them,” Taliban spokesman Asad said.

SKOPJE (Reuters) – Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has agreed with the main ethnic Albanian party to form a coalition government to aim at getting its NATO and European Union bids back on track, his party said on Saturday.