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Fighting broke out as protesters attacked marchers, tearing up placards, and police made several arrests. "How can you promote such a thing in the streets where there are children?" a priest told AFP news agency. A march organiser said they had expected a "negative reaction" but not to be attacked physically. .. Some priests approached nearby police officers asking them "to stop this indecency" but an officer responded that the police could not "ban them from [marching]", according to the Civil Georgia website. "Then we have to do that," the priest reportedly replied.

In Dushanbe, a young man, dressed as Santa Claus, was killed by a mob of young people, shouting accusations of "infidel," as a senior source in the Tajik Interior Ministry disclosed. "The young man had decided to congratulate his relatives dressed up in a Santa Claus outfit. When he approached the door of his house, he was attacked by a mob of about 30 young people, shouting, "Tu kofiri" ("Infidel"), who inflicted on Parviz numerous stab wounds from which he died in the hospital," - said the source. The authorities have admitted the fact that 24-year old Parviz Davlatbekov had...

As I write, Russia is waging war on my country. On Friday, hundreds of Russian tanks crossed into Georgian territory, and Russian air force jets bombed Georgian airports, bases, ports and public markets. Many are dead, many more wounded. This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan in 1979 and the Prague Spring of 1968, threatens to undermine the stability of the international security system. Why this war? This is the question my people are asking. This war is not of Georgia's making, nor is it Georgia's choice. The Kremlin designed this war. Earlier this year, Russia tried to provoke Georgia by effectively...

During the early years of the Cold War, most Americans looked on China and the Soviet Union as a two-headed monster, separate nations but essentially the same Communist beast. It took a virtual war between the two for Washington to realize how deeply divided the Communist superpowers actually were -- and how that division might be played to America's advantage. Incipient tensions between the Soviet and Chinese Communists dated back to the 1930s, when Russia supported Chiang Kai-shek rather than Mao Tse-tung. In the early days of the People's Republic, Russia and China appeared to stand together. In 1950 Mao...

When Russian prosecutors opened a criminal case against journalist Vladimir Rakhmanov for writing a satirical Internet article calling President Vladimir Putin the nation's "phallic symbol," it raised eyebrows. But a case that began as an odd curiosity in Russia's Ivanovo Oblast is quickly becoming an international cause. Reporters Without Borders has taken up Rakhmankov's case as part of what it calls a campaign to preserve Internet press freedom in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. With print and broadcast journalism already subject to heavy-handed state control, free-press advocates are increasingly looking to save the Internet as the region's...

Political reform in Ukraine could be scrapped - Lytvyn 15:17 | 11/ 02/ 2006 KIEV, February 11 (RIA Novosti, Pavel Dulman) - Ukraine's political reforms could be scrapped, the speaker of the Ukrainian lower house of parliament said Saturday. Volodymyr Lytvyn said political reforms could be terminated on a decision from the country's Constitutional Court.

LONDON — Western intelligence sources said Al Qaida-aligned cells have procured the SA-18 anti-aircraft missile from the former Soviet Union. The sources said the missiles were smuggled into Turkey and acquired by Al Qaida-aligned cells in the Middle East."These are serious missiles and represents a step up in Al Qaida capability," an intelligence source said. On Oct. 28, the French daily Le Figaro reported that Al Qaida-aligned cells have obtained SA-18s for attacks against French airliners. The daily said the cells acquired the missiles in 2002 from the so-called Chechen mafia.

Frankly speaking, I can't be objective when talking about upcoming May 9 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany to be marked in Russia and throughout the fmr. Soviet Union. Without exaggeration, the 1941-1945 Soviet-German War (aka "Great Patriotic War") touched nearly everyone in the fmr. Soviet Union and became the bloodiest chapter of the WWII. If you are from the former USSR and even if you are born after the World War II, you are likely to have a parent, grandparent or other family member or someone your family knew who went to the war. You or your...

President Askar Akayev said he had a plan to prevent a "Tulip Revolution" like what he saw in Ukraine and Georgia. Well, that did not work out so well as reports today of heavy unrest in Kyrgyzstan pass through the AP airwaves: President Askar Akayev on Monday ordered the Central Election Commission and Supreme Court to investigate alleged violations in the recent parliamentary vote that have triggered weeks of opposition protests in Kyrgyzstan, his office said. Akayev ordered the commission and court "to pay particular attention to those districts where election results provoked extreme public reaction ... and tell people...

Feb. 6, 2005 15:30 | Updated Feb. 6, 2005 16:01 Immigration to Israel drops 9.5% By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER Immigration to Israel dropped 9.5 percent in 2004, the Jewish Agency announced at a press conference on Wednesday. The main reason for the drop was a decrease in immigration from former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, from 12,000 in 2003 to some 10,000 in 2004. The Jewish Agency believes that the number of immigrants from FSU countries can increase in the coming years if Israel's negotiations with Germany to cut benefits to Russian Jews bear fruit. According to the German media, starting...

KUPALINKA, BELARUS -- It hardly seems a fitting end for a man many consider a father of the nation. Stanislav Shushkevich pads around his wood-walled dacha wearing coveralls, a lumberjack shirt and suspenders, his thick fingers dirty from a morning spent working around the small countryside cottage. He apologizes several times for the mess, and has to clean tools off the kitchen table to make space for us to sit and talk. Like many Belarussians, gardening at his dacha has long been a hobby for him, but these days it's more than that for Mr. Shushkevich -- it's almost all...

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A hacker who invaded the computer system at William Bee Ririe Hospital in Ely has been traced to the former Soviet Union, authorities said. The FBI said the hacker used the Web site of Al-Jazeera, the Arab news network, as a conduit to the hospital. Officials at the 40-bed hospital said patient records are safe, but added that the cyber intruder may have accessed employee Social Security and bank information. The incident has resulted in improved computer security at Nevada's other rural hospitals and serves as a lesson for all computer users. "Here's tiny Ely, a...