Eurasia

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.

MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he saw no need to hang his successor’s portrait in his office once he steps down as Russia’s president.

MOSCOW – The near 100 percent support for the Kremlin’s United Russia party in parliamentary elections last year in the North Caucasus were legitimate and vindicated Kremlin policies, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

MOSCOW – Following are highlights of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments in an annual question and answer session on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistanis vote in an election on Monday that could bring about the downfall of President Pervez Musharraf if it returns a hostile parliament with a prime minister who wants to be his own man.

LAHORE – Security fears may have kept Pakistani politicians off the streets, but their faces can be seen every way one turns in the city of Lahore.

ASHGABAT – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov pardoned more than a thousand prisoners on Thursday — the first anniversary of his rule in the gas-producing Caspian nation.

MOSCOW – The prosecutor of Russia’s Volga region of Saratov was killed overnight and police believe his murder could be linked to his anti-corruption drive, Russian media reported on Thursday.

LONDON – Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who feared assassination and faced accusations of plotting a coup in his homeland, has died in Britain and British police are treating his death as suspicious.

BRDO, Slovenia – The European Union sought to convince Russia on Wednesday that the status-quo in Kosovo is unsustainable, the EU’s external relations commissioner said.