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A beverage plant in the Russian city of Volgograd is releasing a series of soft drinks picturing Josef Stalin and other World War II commanders, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported on Wednesday. The drinks are being released in honor of the 67th anniversary of the pivotal Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet-era name for Volgograd, and will appear in Volgograd stores in early February. A second release of the drinks is set to coincide with the May 9 Victory Day celebrations, with this year marking the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. The three soft drinks in the series...

Deductible operating cost rises to 58.5 cents per mile WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service, citing the drain that high gas prices are having on people's finances, is raising the automobile mileage rate that businesses and others can claim. The tax agency said the optional standard rate to calculate deductible operating costs for business vehicles will rise from 50.5 cents a mile to 58.5 cents for the final six months of 2008. That rate also applies to businesses and others entitled to depreciation allowances that operate automobiles for charitable, medical or moving purposes. "Rising gas prices are having a major...

Oil prices extended gains to a new all-time high of $91.10 a barrel in early electronic trade on Friday, bolstered by supply concerns during the northern Hemisphere winter and growing political tensions in Middle East. NYMEX crude for December delivery, which rose to a record high of $91.10 barrel, was up 31 cents at $90.77 by 0001 GMT. U.S. crude settled up $3.36 to $90.46 a barrel on Thursday after striking a record $90.60. London Brent crude also hit a new record high of $88.01 a barrel. "The rebound in oil prices has been remarkable. With all the bullish news...

Can anyone control the forces the Russian president has unleashed? A couple of weeks back, while news readers were averting their gaze from photographs of a shirtless Vladimir Putin fishing in Siberia, two videos circulating on the Internet laid bare a different, much more chilling, portion of the Russian body politic. The first was a crude bit of agitprop thought to originate with the Nashi, a Kremlin-funded youth movement loyal to Putin whose work involves denouncing the president's critics as fascists, homosexuals or foreign-controlled traitors. The eight-minute clip, which eventually found its way to YouTube, was ostensibly meant to persuade...

Estonian authorities annulled a visa for a Russian woman who protested against the recent dismantling of a Soviet-era memorial in the Estonian capital, and are considering deportation of another two protesters. Alexandra Bondarenko, apprehended earlier Monday, has already had her visa annulled, and is to be deported shortly. The other two detainees, identified only by their first names - Alexandra and Nadezhda - could also face expulsion. All the three detainees are 21 years old, and entered Estonia on tourist visas. The young women affiliated with the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi were detained in central Tallinn at the former site...

Border Guard officer recovering from Saturday's shooting attack in Jerusalem receives visit from internal security minister, says experience 'was just like watching a movie'Isam Abu-Rish, the Border Guard officer wounded in Saturday's shooting attack in Jerusalem, knows things could have been much worse. "I was at the checkpoint with a few of the other guards when two ordinary looking guys showed up," he recalled from his hospital bed on Sunday. "There was nothing suspicious about them, and then all of a sudden one of them shot me in the back, from point-blank range. Dichter visiting wounded officer at hospital...

S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty around Moscow July 1, the commander of the Russian Air Force said Monday. The S-400 Triumf (NATO codename SA-21 Growler) is a new air defense missile system developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family. "On July 1, one battalion of S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty to defend the airspace of Moscow and Central Russia," Colonel-General Alexander Zelin said. Zelin said the battalion is at an Air Force range, and after range practice, the battalion, based in the...

A new nationalist party has been founded in Russia seven months before parliamentary elections. A statement read out at the founding congress of the Great Russia party in Moscow today said the party aims to unite "hundreds of thousands of staunch Russian patriots." The founders of the party say it is "not a Kremlin project." In order to register as a party, Great Russia will have to meet stringent criteria, including having at least 5,000 members across Russia.

The United States backed Estonia Thursday in its escalating dispute with Russia over the removal of a Soviet war memorial, saying it was the Baltic state's internal affair and urging dialogue. Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: ''We have urged the Estonian and Russian governments to maintain dialogue and respect for the strong feelings on both sides.'' Casey also expressed concern ''about continuing reports of violence and harassment, including harassment of Estonian diplomatic personnel and premises, in Moscow.'' The Estonian Embassy in Moscow has been under siege by pro-Kremlin youth activists since the removal last week of a...

As Iran was hosting an international conference this week under the banner "The Muslim World: Victim of Terrorism," Syria was holding its own international conference on "Arab and Islamic Media Support of the Palestinian People." In both countries, the theme was how the Islamic or Arab peoples are under assault and occupation by Israel and the United States. On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the audience at the first-ever Culture of Resistance Conference, held in Tehran, that the Islamic world has been victimized by terrorism perpetrated by "the arrogant powers." It is those powers, Ahmadinejad said, that have created...

Estonian border guards have not allowed activists of the Nashi youth movement, who left for Estonia in two different tourist groups, to enter the country. "Seven activists of the Nashi movement, including girls, who have tourist visas to Estonia, were not allowed to enter the country," press secretary of the movement Anastasiya Suslova told Interfax on Tuesday. The refusal paper handed out to young men states that "they constitute a threat to Estonian state security and that they are banned from entering the country for five years," she said. Activists wanted to make certain that the remains of Soviet...

Russian police today said they would crack down harshly on attempts to hold unauthorized opposition rallies planned for April 14 in Moscow and April 15 in St. Petersburg, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported. Metal police barricades have been erected on the central Moscow square where the March of Dissent is planned. Special police forces, the OMON, are being deployed to the capital. Yulia Malysheva, one of the march's organizers, told RFE/RL's Russian Service that large numbers of OMON officers have already been deployed to Moscow from other regions. She expressed concern, saying that "regional OMON as a rule do not bear...

In October 1933, Erich and Marga Cohen leave their home in Germany on an organized trip to the Land of Israel, as Nazis' rise to power. They arrive in Haifa and travel across the country. Their daughter, Miriam Hazeh, shares the photos from that trip with Ynet readers. First part

Tehran's release of 15 Britons may have been a gift, as its president claims, but the standoff is a gift for the captors: The incident pushes oil prices higher and brings the Iranians millions in additional revenue. So, what did Iran get out of holding on to 15 British sailors and marines for some 10 days? A lot of attention from the West, that's for sure -- and possibly an extra $167 million in oil revenue. No, there wasn't a ransom paid, but the standoff did push the price of crude oil abruptly higher around the world.

Mayor's office in northern city of Lille says it is 'shocked' and 'disgusted' by weekend attack, which it describes as a 'hateful anti-Semitic act' More than 50 tombstones were damaged in an attack at the weekend on a Jewish cemetery in the northern French city of Lille that the mayor's office described as a "hateful anti-Semitic act". The Lille mayor's office said it was "shocked" and "disgusted" by the desecration of 53 tombstones overnight Saturday to Sunday in the Lille-Sud cemetery. New Interior Minister Francois Baroin issued a statement condemning the attack and pledging to mobilise "all means necessary to...

Pakistani authorities say at least 56 people have been killed in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border, when local Pashtun tribesmen clashed with foreign Al-Qaeda militants. Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said 54 of those deaths are from fighting today near Wana in the tribal region of South Waziristan. There was no immediate information about how many of the casualties are foreign fighters. But earlier today, authorities said at least 10 Uzbek fighters and one local resident were killed overnight during a battle near Wana. They said nine other Uzbeks were injured and one captured, and that foreign...

About 15,000 supporters of Russia's pro-Kremlin youth movement have vowed to defend their country from a host of enemies as they celebrated seven years of Vladimir Putin's presidency. Members of the Nashi movement said on March 25 that traitors are trying to pave the way for foreign powers to steal Russia's giant reserves of natural resources. Supporters waved Russia's flag and chanted "Russia" before speeches. They also went to recruit members in Moscow and give out special mobile-phone cards to be used to send out messages to followers.

Former Putin Colleague Becomes Election Chief Churov has vowed to be impartial during upcoming elections (TASS) March 27, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Russia's Central Election Commission has chosen Vladimir Churov, a former colleague of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as its new chairman ahead of key elections. Churov was elected today in a vote by the 15 members of the election commission. Thirteen members voted for him, two against. ? Churov's nomination comes ahead of key parliamentary elections in December 2007 and a presidential election in 2008. ? 'Work To Do'Speaking today at a commission meeting in Moscow, Churov pledged the body...

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia — Anti-government activists said police arrested hundreds of protesters in this central Russian city Saturday in the third major crackdown on a demonstration in recent months as the country prepares for parliamentary elections and a presidential vote.

Iran is threatening to retaliate for what it calls the "kidnapping" of Revolutionary Guard officers by abducting Americans and feeding them to roosters. In an article in the Revolutionary Guard's weekly paper, Reza Faker believed to have close links to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned: "We've got the ability to capture a nice bunch of blue-eyed, blond-haired officers and feed them to our fighting cocks. Iran has enough people who can reach the heart of Europe and kidnap Americans and Israelis."The warning comes after the recent disappearance of three high-profile Iranian officers. Earlier this month came the revelation that Ali Reza...