A publication of Freedom House human rights organization says that Russia has become ‘the leading antidemocratic force’ in the region.   “Over time, we have seen rising oil prices correlate clearly with sharply falling democracy performance, especially in Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan,” the group’s director of studies, Christopher Walker, said …

Makers of portraits have found the way for the Russians who still cannot decide whether to take Putin’s portrait off the walls in their offices or not. Novy Region (“New Region”) reported that combined portraits of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have been brought to a number of bookstores in …

“Putin is more of an oligarch rather than a dictator. In other words, he wants to rule like Stalin and live like Abramovich,” this is the viewpoint expressed by chess ex-world champion Kasparov in his interview to Spanish periodical El Pais.

Sources in the United Province of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachai (KBK), The Caucasus Emirate, reported that early morning of Jumada Al-Akhirah 19 1429 (June 23, 2008), a sabotage unit of the Caucasus Armed Forces (Mujahideen) attacked a clandestine apartment of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) in Elbrus District …

Sources of the Russian invaders claim that three Mujahideen from one of the units of Shali Sector of Eastern Front of The Caucasus Armed Forces died last weekend during a battle near the village of Mahkety.

Russian media reported that Prosecutor’s Office of the Krasnoyarsk Province in Siberia has conducted an examination and did not discover any violations of the law of the Russian Federation in placing the verse from the Koran “There is no god but Allah” on the wall of the Krasnoyarsk mosque.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian prosecutors said on Monday they had charged a gang led by two teenagers of murdering 20 people in a series of racist killings over eight months.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Five Iraqi appeals court judges escaped assassination attempts on Monday when bombs exploded outside their homes in eastern Baghdad, an apparent attempt to intimidate the court, police and a judicial official said.

(Reuters) – Following are security developments in Iraq at 9:30 EDT on Monday: BAGHDAD – Five Iraqi appeals court judges escaped assassination attempts when bombs exploded outside their homes in eastern Baghdad, police and a judicial official said.

GAZA (Reuters) – A Palestinian journalist said from his hospital bed on Monday that he was abused and injured by Israeli security personnel on his way home to the Gaza Strip after receiving a journalism award in Britain.