MOSCOW (Reuters) – Former world chess champion and opposition leader Garry Kasparov accused Russian authorities of “raping the whole electoral system” with numerous instances of irregularities in Sunday’s parliamentary election.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq must take advantage of improved security to enact laws aimed at reconciliation or risk a resumption of sectarian violence, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Sunday.

(Reuters) – Following are security developments in Iraq at 7:30 a.m. EST on Thursday. * denotes new or updated items. * BAGHDAD – Iraqi soldiers killed one gunman and detained 47 other suspects in different areas of Iraq in the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.