RUSSIA Russian PM Vladimir Putin has promised relatives of victims of an explosion at a Russian hydro-electric power plant 1m roubles ($30,000) each in compensation. The death toll from Monday’s blast at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in Siberia now stands at 47, with 28 people missing and assumed dead. Mr Putin …

RUSSIA Early reports of a series of explosions in the capital of Chechnya say at least five people have been killed, policemen among them, according to a Russian agency source. Bystanders near a shop in Grozny said it was the work of suicide bombers, one of them on a bicycle. …

RUSSIA Chechen fighters said in a letter posted on a rebel website that they had used an anti-tank grenade to cause a disaster at a massive dam in Siberia this week presumed to have killed over 70 people. “Glory to Allah, on August 17 through our efforts, a subversive operation …