Russia’s Muslims are beginning to change the way they talk about the relationship between their religious community and their country, a shift that reflects their own growing self-confidence but one that frightens many ethnic Russians who see it as a threat to their own status.

The Russian Far East is “drifting away” from the rest of the country, according to an investigation carried out by Nezavisimaya gazeta – Regiony, and the Kremlin’s much-ballyhooed program intended to reverse that process may in fact be making it worse.

Even though Vladimir Putin’s designated successor says few senior officials even know what demography is, changes in the number of 18-year-olds over the next few years will impose severe constraints on the Russian government and may force it to reduce the size of its armed forces.

SOFIA – Bulgaria’s Sofia airport was temporarily evacuated and flights suspended for over an hour on Sunday, after a bomb threat which proved a hoax, police said.

BANJSKA, Serbia – The plum brandy flowed freely at polling station No. 9 in Banjska, northern Kosovo, as Serbs voted for a new president.

BEIRUT – Lebanon’s presidential election was postponed from Monday to February 11, the parliament speaker said on Sunday, announcing the 13th delay of a vote blocked by the country’s political crisis.

TBILISI – Georgia and Russia pledged to repair their tattered relationship on Sunday after Mikhail Saakashvili was sworn in as Georgian president, the first concrete sign of an improvement.

GAZA – Gaza’s main power plant began shutting down on Sunday due to a fuel shortage caused by Israel’s closure of the Hamas-controlled territory’s borders, a move taken in response to Palestinian rocket attacks.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A Taliban roadside bomb killed five Afghan civilians and wounded two others in the south of Afghanistan, a provincial official said on Sunday.

Serbs vote on Sunday in a presidential election, with opinion polls giving hardline challenger Tomislav Nikolic a slim lead over pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic, but not enough for a first-round victory.Here are profiles of the main candidates: