Eurasia Press & News

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said his country will consider beefing up its non-military support for Afghanistan’s embattled government while ruling out any increase in troops there. After a day of talks in Canberra with two visiting U.S. officials, Smith said Australia may be prepared to …

KABUL, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) — Seven Afghan employees of a local road construction company were killed when their vehicle hit mines Saturday morning in eastern Afghan province of Kunar, a police officer said.

The visit to Afghanistan by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer last week was meant to shore up confidence in the mission to stabilise the country and secure it once and for all from control of extremism in the form of the Taleban. Though Mr Jaap …

BELGRADE – The European Union told Serbia on Friday to protect embassies after attacks over Western support for Kosovo’s secession, and suggested such violence could harm its prospects of closer ties with the bloc.

GAZA – Hamas called on the European Union on Friday to step up pressure on Israel to lift its economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist group.

BEIRUT – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Friday to avenge the assassination of his senior commander Imad Moughniyah and threatened to deal Israel a crushing blow if it attacked Lebanon again.

Putin introduced the 42-year-old Medvedev to leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as “one of the candidates” in the March 2 election, but left no doubt he was more than that.

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday promised to end the almost daily violent attacks in Moscow on migrant workers from the former Soviet states.

BELGRADE – The U.S. embassy in Serbia ordered on Friday the departure of support staff and dependents of diplomats after a mob attacked the mission the day before, a spokeswoman said.

LONDON – Lawyers for five Iraqis have accused British soldiers of mass executions and torture and called for a police investigation into an “atrocious episode” in British army history.