Eurasia

MINSK (Reuters) – The former Soviet republic of Belarus, subject to Western sanctions over its human rights record, said on Wednesday it was staying away from a NATO summit in Bucharest because of restrictions on who could attend.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia would respond pragmatically to any further NATO expansion by strengthening its defenses and economic might, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – President George W. Bush urged NATO allies on Wednesday to send more troops to Afghanistan, but France distanced itself from expectations in the alliance that it could deploy 1,000 extra soldiers.

PRISTINA (Reuters) – Serbia said on Monday it would conduct its May elections in the former Kosovo province as well, in a fresh challenge to the newly independent state and its international overseers.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will send humanitarian aid to Kosovo’s Serb-populated enclaves in early April, a Russian diplomat said on Monday, saying Moscow had not coordinated the move with the region’s ethnic Albanian leadership.

NIKOLSKOE, Russia (Reuters) – A Russian doomsday cult sheltering in a bunker say credit cards and food packaging bar codes are satanic, the official negotiating the release of children from the group said on Monday.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Once a laggard among former Soviet allies in joining the European Union and NATO, Romania hopes the military alliance’s summit in Bucharest this week will earn the Black Sea state a bigger role in southeastern Europe.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Xie Xiaoyan extended an invitation to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the Olympic Games (2008) in China.

 TEHRAN (FNA)- The European Parliament President, Hans-Gert Pottering, praised Iran’s crucial and undeniable position in the region and the world.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia warned NATO on Friday against expansion into ex-Soviet neighbors Georgia and Ukraine ahead of a NATO summit next week that will discuss what Moscow sees as deep encroachment into its backyard.